Since all religion promises life after death, isn't the motivation to becoming religious essentially selfish

Answer 1

Good question!

Probably right...

Its always struck me that Humanists are braver than those of religions that promise 'ethernal life', as they promote a set of values (love your neighbour, be kind to others, etc) WITHOUT the promise of any great reward.

Then again, I suppose you could argue that, if we all lived in a world where we DID actually truly care and look after each other, there would be no war, no crime... and wouldn't that be a reward in itself?

Gary

Answer 2

Most religions presuppose a life after death but don't promise it. What they do say is if you behave in such and such a way then you will go to Heaven, Paradise or wherever. This presumably is a selfish motivation to live a 'religious' life. However Buddhism has no belief in life after death at all - it says that there is no individual soul and that the Law of Karma sees to it that 'energy' is 'reborn' again and again - unless we can break the chains of our delusion caused by attachment and desire and wake up to our true nature. - This is not some far away special condition - it is here all the time, looking for it is is a bit like a fish wanting to know where this wonderful stuff called water is! For the record I don't think that Jesus ever talked about a place called heaven where we go when we die, the teaching has been corrupted and twisted over the years. Lets face it the promise of eternal life in heaven is a very seductive thing with which to control people. As usual it is peoples own greed that leaves them open to the con-men of history.

Answer 3

Atheism and anti theism picked up after 9/11. As a Christian, I have always been a little panicked about the antagonism that exists between denominations within Christianity, and toward other belief systems. While I do not take a literal approach to the scriptures, I do take a sincere approach to God. When I found Yahoo Q and A , this section was my first experience with the new anti theists. My best friend was atheist and one of the best people on the planet. We simply loved each other. When he went in for quadruple by pass , I said why not pretend you believe so I can be comforted in the event of your death? He just laughed and said he couldn't do the last ditch mind switch , even for me. I loved his integrity. My family is mixed . There was no mandatory church attendance and much open discussion about everything. We were raised sort of Christians.I never knew annoying Christians until my aunt had a conversion and proceeded to harass us all unmercifully about smoking, cutting our hair and wearing slacks. If this was God, why on Earth would he care about hair cuts and if I wore jeans? I became a Christian in my mid twenties. I don't attend a church but God is of great importance to me. I read the Bible but was told to ignore the Old testament because it was whacked. Don't shoot the messenger. This is what I was told. I married a man from an Amish Mennonite backiground. He became a practicing witch. There is a lot to be learned from each other. We can't simply close our ears and say this is all bad or this is all good. Atheism is bringing an integrity to the church that has been lacking . We can't make excuses for our behavior and pretend we have all the answers. We don't. I laugh at the questions and remember thinking the same way or having the same questions. We need to learn to love each other for our differences . It is refreshing to hear from reasonable atheist.

Answer 4

I'm not sure that all religions do that. I do not think that for most people, this selfishness would be a conscious selfishness, but rather an unconscious one. I believe that people are inherently self-interested....This is why game theory/hunt of the stag explanation seems to work. Ultimately, the goal of a group is for the most people in the group to benefit from each others actions and this is called "the good of the whole". If a group of people are hunting an animal, they all must work together and do their own part to get something out of it. If one person doesn't do their share everyone loses including that person. Each person does their job in the end because they are thinking of their own interests...it just so happens that when that person acts in self interest it helps them and everyone else resulting in a win/win situation. So....perhaps there is some self interest in the situation you are referring to, however, I think that in this case it would be an unconscious self interest, whereas, the hunt of the stag case is a conscious one.

If you think about it, you can argue that even the most unselfish looking people are self-interested in some way. For example, lets take the lady that helps the little old man cross the street. Why did she do this? At first, you could say she did it out of instinct, but after looking into it you could also argue that in the back of her mind she knew she would get a good feeling out of helping another person, she might even get complimented and recognized in other ways.

Answer 5

Not all religion promises life after death. The motivation to becoming religious to some is a "calling" to others it may be a method to advance their understanding of the world. People are religious for a wide variety of reasons. Some are religious because they feel that they must be. . .others sense something different.

Answer 6

You are mistaken. All religion does not promise life after death.
Christians are given the gift of eternal life when they put their trust in Christ for salvation. Eternal life is not in the future - it begins as soon as you receive it.
Before I believed my spirit was dead - separated from God. At the moment I believed my spirit became alive and it will never die. My body will die but my spirit will go on.
Jesus did not promise "pie in the sky" as many seem to think. He said,"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." That is here and now, friend. It will just continue on in the next world but be even better because the world will be unmarred with sin and brokenness.
Here is the way I and most true Christians I know live: we are committed to the values of scripture: love, peace, truth, service, sacrifice, humility, obedience....to name just a few. We love our families, respect all people, live law-abiding lives, contribute of our own resources to help others. Perhaps you did not notice where the majority of help came from after Hurricane Katrina? Churches and individuals who love Christ were by far the most responsive. Who runs the downtown rescue missions for the homeless? Where did the idea of hospitals originate?
Please tell us exactly what it is about people who practice the aforementioned lifestyle that you find selfish?
Can I ask how much of your time and resources you have given in the past month to help those in need?

Answer 7

all religions do not promise life after death, but wanting to become religious may be essentially selfish, if only because u are wanting to become religious in order to become a better person, but if religion does help u to become a better person, u have learned how to take care of yourself properly and therefore are better able to help others, which isn't selfish at all

Answer 8

I don't have a problem with a healthy amount of selfishness. To be selfish means to do things in your own best interest instead of someone else's. To be overly selfish means to be greedy, to harm others in order to get what you want (I do have a problem with that).

The problem with religious whackoes (a fitting term for all people who are religious) is that their religion teaches that selfishness is wrong, and yet, just like anyone else, the whackoes are always motivated by selfishness, too. That's just human nature. So, religious whackoes who say selfishness is wrong are hypocritical, because they are human, which means they are selfish - all living things have an inherent selfishness; that is an instinctive desire to do what is in their best interest.

It's their selfishness that makes them deny the stark reality that when they die, they will cease to exist, completely and totally, never to exist again. Most people are too wimpy to deal with that aspect of reality and therefore cling to the liars who tell them they can live forever in total happiness simply by believing a certain bunch of crap.

Someone said not every religion promises immortality, which might be true. But let's look at the successful religions, the big religions that are popular today. OK, thanks, you can't find any from that category that don't promise immortality.

Finally, religious whackoes who are selfish and believe in immortality cause harm to other people, meaning they are overly selfish (like I said in the beginning of my answer, there is healthy amount of selfishness, or overly selfish (greedy). Many (almost all) whackoes try to force their views onto other people, which is harmful to those people, especially if the whackoes do manage to deceive someone, who then becomes a whacko himself :-( It is overly selfish (greedy) when one gets to the point where one causes harm to other people by pursuing one's own selfish interests.

Answer 9

I'm not sure that all religions promise life after death. Voodoo is a religion--does it promise life after death?

Anyway, to answer your question: The promise of eternal life is not selfish. In eternity, we are united with God, and so it is God-serving, not self-serving.

If you give your life back to God, you will eventually come to learn this great secret. If you keep your life for your own, you will just stand on the outside asking unanswerable questions about that which is unknowable to you.

Answer 10

Depends on why you are following the religion. Anyone who follows a religion just to be saved from damnation, and try to get life after death is following for the wrong reasons, and thus is a hipocrite. If you follow just because it is the right thing to do, then it's not selfish motivation.

Answer 11

Not all have that promise.

Though most do, unfortunately a lot of them have strings and loop-holes, that requires absolute compliance to the rules.
People being as they are, and temptation to vices of virtually anything immaginable.
I would consider that their perception of heaven, must be pretty sparsely populated, while the road(s) to their heaven is littered with Shanty Cities of refugees, who couldn't cut it.
Nobody is perfect, and since vanity in many religions is a sin, thats an automatic *busted* - go back, you can't come in.
Its ironic, isn't it? Live the virtuous life, and just for one milli-second of thinking you're better than someone, you aren't as perfect as you had hoped, . .

But of course you won't know till you get there and find out that you can't get in.
You can't go back and mend your ways, because,... You're dead. A spirit without a body, and your warranty has log ago run out.

Kinda sucks doesn't it?