why does religion still exist?

Question

its 2006 and people still beleive in that fairy tale called 'the bible'. god is nothing but santa claus for adults. christians actually believe that when thy die they will be whisked away to a magical world up in the clouds where the streets r paved with gold and they will meet 'god' and be happy for eternity. its embarasing that full grown adults believe in that. and then theres the muslims. these dune coons believe that they will get 72 virginsin the afterlife by flying planes into buildings. what the hell?

when will relgion die already?

Answer 1

Why is it that whenever atheist condemn religion, they attack Christianity, there are other religions, you know.

Answer 2

OK, first I have to say that calling Arab people "dune coons" does not offend me (I'm not a touchy-feely PC moralist and you have a right to call them whatever you want), but it DOES make you sound ignorant and angry.

That being said, here is an answer from a non-theist who thinks that the best knowledge humans can attain is scientific knowledge about the material world (the only one there is):

Religion is an evolved behavior that is a physical part of the brain. It is coded in the average human's DNA: Belief in an afterlife, in divine forces, and in a just and moral universe confers benefits on those who deeply believe them. Religion adds bravery on the battlefield, adds social cohesion, and incites people toward moral behaviors they wouldn't otherwise exhibit.

If you disagree and think that religious people are hopeless dupes, then tell me why our country is run by "religious dupes"? Why are the atheists working on their little lawsuits and spouting intellectual venom against religion to very little effect? If atheism is such an "advantage", then why aren't atheists in charge? For a while, they WERE in charge in the Soviet Union -- and we know how that went.

Atheism is TRUE, it's just not effective. As Nietzsche suggested, often a useful lie is more beneficial than the truth.

Religion is very useful. But, it isn't true: When we die our bodies decompose and that's it. The universe is an amoral place that is hostile to living things. Life is a natural chemical process that will spring up under certain conditions -- no divine creator required.

Unfortunately, we won't get rid of this behavior without selective breeding or genetic manipulation.

Answer 3

Are you a Communust?

Cause your ideas sound like that of a Communist since the COmmunists have the idealogy that a perfect world will eliminate Religions.

One problem with that no matter how hard you try you can never get rid of Religions at all so if you hate the idea that Religions exist then please go move to a Country that bans Religions.

Not to mention if Christ did not rise from the Dead then my fellow Christians would have died for nothing and many have died for their Faith in China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, Iraq, Iran, Russia and well God can name several other places in the World where Christians have willingly died for refusal to renounce their faith in Christ.

Let me ask you this, if you hate Religion that much would you beat up on someone for their Religion if Religion was banned?

Im sorry if you hate the fact that different Religions exist, actually im not really sorry at all because you are not my Ruler, you are not my King, you are not my Boss, I will not dare try to please you at all.

Answer 4

if all you know of heaven is what you describe, you are badly misinformed- shameful for an adult- huh?
God isn't about wealth, so why would the streets be paved with gold? and no one knows where heaven is- so why can you state with so much certainty that it's in the clouds?

People believe in God because it brings a purpose in life. studies show spiritual people live longer that non-spiritual people- religion is good for your health.

i guess you could say religion will die at the end of time, when God's kingdom is on earth, but that's only in the sense that what we believe in will no longer be imagined- it will be real. (I am talking about Christianity, not as a muslim, as I don't know their religion, i am unqualified to talk about it)

Answer 5

Science presuposes as a basic assumption that universals exist. We have particular experiences in our experiments to draw conclusions about universals. Without reasoning there would be no science. Logic give us rules of grammar but does not give us Reason which is transcendental, as in inferential logic.

Because universals exist people make the judgement that an ultimate universal exists. This intuition gives rise to the belief that there is a God; among a variety of other reasons.

Religion can be of man or religion can be of God.

In my judgement the idea of Truth is only compatible with the idea of the existence of an ultimate universal.

Good luck in finding Truth, and may God be with you.

Answer 6

Then what do you believe?since not the bible.do you actually think that God is going to let human kind destroy his earth like they have so far i don't think so.if what the bible is a fairytale why have all the prophecy's come true?do you think that we are just made to live and suffer in the wicked world and then die.what is the point in living?their is more to life then that.but if you rather take a chance and not believe go ahead,but a lot of us won't.like this scripture says,in Romans:15:4 tells what the scriptures are for..

Answer 7

Religion exists because of the illusion of external agency, a cognitive bias in which humans imagine illusory external agents causing seemingly patterned events which in reality are random.

In the case of religion, the illusory external agents can be gods like "God" or "Allah". Religion still exists nowadays because the illusion of external agency is innate to humans. That is why religion will only die when humans become extinct.

Answer 8

Religion will not die, because God is eternal.

The Athiest religion only got started a couple hundred years ago. You shouldnt expect very many converts. Ever.

Answer 9

why does that bother you so much? mankind has always had a god/goddess belief and an afterlife belief. there is archeological evidence that these beliefs predate recorded history. there is even archeological evidence that neanderthal had the belief in the afterlife and god/goddess.
the belief in no god is a recent, historical anomaly. it could be the adverse psycological effect of the destuction of nature by mankind. the oldest religions were nature based because the production of food, or hunting of it meant life or death.

Answer 10

As long as people search for a meaning to life, as long as someone asks of the material world, "Is that all there is?", the search for a god to believe in will continue.

Answer 11

Religion still exists because people want to get the greater good in life by participating in them. Kind of like Karma