Comfort or Poison?

Question

Religion: Is it a way to comfort man, to give him meaning in life and hope for an afterlife? Or is it a poison, a plague on mankind, a tool developed and used to tear mankind apart from each other and ruin society?

What's your take?

PLEASE: No circular reference responses (i.e., the bible says to believe).

Answer 1

Our own brains, greed and pride are what tears us all apart.

Answer 2

To each their own.

I think it differs from person to person how religion is perceived.

At times however...I think that some people have a religion just because there is something they cannot explain, and they don't want to take credit for what they do, or give credit for what anyone else has done. You'll hear people saying "God gave us this..." and "God made this happen..." Well, how exactly do we know that God did this for us, and we did not do it for ourselves, be it good or bad?

This is why I am a Deist...I believe in God, but I don't think that an organized religion is necessary, and that people act upon their own free will.

Why do I believe in a god? Well...I can't comprehend how anything could have been created without some interference from a higher power...The Big Bang makes no sense. And then, there are things here and there that don't make any sense to me either.

So, Religion isn't really a comfort or a poison for me...And most people l know that are religious, use it as a comfort.

Answer 3

I think it can be poison or comfort. Obviously when things are taken literally it becomes very poisonous. But when taken lightly and given some thought rather than blindly accepting than it might be a good comfort provider.
My comfort is truth. I'd rather know that I dont know or might never know the answer to all the big questions than close off all other options by assuming I know. Then again, philosophy can be depressing and I can sometimes understand why people would rather bury their heads in the sand.. but thats not for me.

Answer 4

Not to be a circular reference, but I agree with a quote by I think it was Blaise Pascal. he said

"If I believe in God and you do not, and there is no God, when we die we both lose. But if there is a God, you still lose and I gain everything."

Personally I'd rather die happy and wrong than miserable and right. Not that I believe i'm wrong, but you ge the point.

P.S. In response to the answer above, a true Christian cares about the world and would never sit on their couch and not care. Our job is to make the world a better place because of what we believe. Why make the world a better place when you're just going to die and everyone will forget you? it doesn't make sense without a higher purpose for helping others.

Answer 5

I think it is a comfort. I mean what would we be if we had nothing to live for? I think that some religions could be a plague. Like Hinduism...they tell the poor people that they were just bad in their former lives so they should just deal with it, let people walk all over them, but always still be good and chipper so they can improve in the next life.

In conclusion I think it is both. Although I find my religion (messianic) to be pleasant and I find more meaning in it than just something to help me sleep at night.

Answer 6

I believe that is is a poison.
In fact, no other force has held more people back from making the world a better place. They feel that they don't need to work to make the world better because once they die, they'll go to 'heaven'. So why bother getting up off the couch and working to make the world a better place? Let the trash pile up, let the corporations rape the earth, it will all be great in that big castle in the sky right?
Only the truely moronic believe in such fairytales.

Answer 7

Each of the options is a small part of the picture. In bygone centuries a factious "Vicar of Christ" could lay to waste whole kingdoms. But augustine could tease you into approaching an almost cosmic sense of spirituality.

I think both are also largely epiphenomenal, like shivering is to cold. It seems to me a disguised and ritualized coping strategy. Our view of reality tends to be a humanized, anthropomorphic absraction. We have a "Father Creator," sometimes even a "Holy Mother," sometimes with imp-like deities. (Many are even shocked this would be questioned. "Who doesn't have a father?")

Above all, it is cultural. Yes, the cardinals can raise an army and go to war, or burn the heretic, or establish an orphanage, but they did not invent the basis for their own power.

Answer 8

It is a way to comfort a man. That is a point of view thought. Many think religion is a way to poison someone. There are people who believe religion is a way to comfort people and there are some who believe that relgion is a way to poison people. It depends on who's side and point of view you are on.

Answer 9

I don't necessarily think it's either. I am comforted by my faith but I still have to face many trials that I would like to avoid. Poison? Definitely not. Poison is the veil of sin that pervades the earth.

Answer 10

I believe it is a comfort. It has brought me great comfort through the years when faced with grief, big decisions, and lifted me higher in moments of happiness. It has helped me beat the odds and has given me a great moral code to live my life by. It's been a true blessing for me, my marriage, and my family.

Answer 11

i think religion was created by men. when i say men, i mean two men. one who wanted control, and one who wanted what was good for the world. religion is multifaceted. just like each person is, so it is both, at the same time. a paradox, but one that exists and is accepted without thinking twice.