Is religion considered to be a good or bad thing for our society??

Answer 1

That depends on who you ask. As for me, since I am a Christian, I would say some religions are a good thing, and some are a bad thing. Each has their own beliefs, no 2 religions think exactly alike on all things, although some have one or more things that they agree on.

Answer 2

The belief in the supernatural, the concept of an afterlife, is a way
for people to reconcile two distinctly contradictory facets of being
human. First, being animals (albeit intelligent) we are in a very
large part governed by our first instinct, that of self preservation.
Second, since we are intelligent we realize that all animals die, so,
we must too. The belief in an afterlife for us and all of it's
ramifications, a god, a place for that god to live -heaven- a counter
god and his dwelling etc (all together a religion) is simply a way to
reconcile by explanation this two opposing traits of our humanity, you
see, we die but not really.

The concept of religion was the greatest leap forward for mankind
ever. It was a valiant attempt at explaining our surroundings,
ourselves and reconciling our intellect with our instincts, the best
our primitive ancestors could came up with. It has an incredible
mental leap for them, considering they were animals not too long
before they started believing in an afterlife. Today we have explained
most of our surroundings and we are educated, yet some of us choose to
believe in an afterlife via their religion because it is something
they are comfortable with and most are simply not willing to face
reality. However in time our society will be educated enough and most
importantly mature enough to be willing to face reality and relegate
the belief in the supernatural to that of their primitive ancestors
(us). I imagine they will view us and our beliefs in an afterlife much
in the same way we view our ancestors who believed the wind, fire and
lightning were all manifestations of Gods, or the ones that were a
little more educated and believed that the Sun and the planets were
Gods, or the ones that were a little more educated and believed that
God is an invisible Flying Spaghetti Monster... ohh no wait that is
us... ;-)

If we continue our technological pace forward religion will be
history, if instead we move backwards and teach our children to
believe in the supernatural then mythologies such as Voodoo,
Christianity, Wican and many more will be around for a long time in one form or another.

I believe that mythologies for us religions for them were a great thing at some point in time, it allowed humanity a passage from animal like beings into humans, but it's existence has long outlived it's purpose. It was a good thing for humanity, humanity holding on to it for dear life is a bad thing as it prevents us from developing as humans.

Answer 3

Look at it historically. Society was a lot more civil and families were stronger before the cause to eliminate faith from culture. The rates of STD's were negligible, people were closer to one another in their neighborhoods, there was very little violence in school save an occasional fight between a few boys- and even that played by rules of engagement. Illegitimate children were fairly rare and the divorce rate was small. Kids were certainly not murdering their parents. It was safe for children to play outside and run all over the neighborhoods without fear of them being abducted, molested, or dismembered. Drug use was uncommon and really not much more than an occasional reefer or opium at a concentration far less than the potency of today's enhanced drugs. Children would almost NEVER disrespect their parents, teachers, and other adults in defiance of authority. Today, respectful children are so uncommon that when they are found, it elicits comments and praise from strangers. People generally lived with more integrity than they do today.

Answer 4

Well, bad right now. The way things are going in the world. We've been at war forever and a day over different religious beliefs. It's ludacris! Religion should be a good thing, but it's hurting us more than anything!

Answer 5

I think religious people probably consider it a good thing for society and some religious people are capable of doing great things. But as soon as they start the "my God's better than your God" analogy it all goes out the window. It's really too bad because I know people of all faiths who are good decent people but they just can't accept other thoughts or ideas as legitimate. And therein lies the problem.

Answer 6

Religion is not totally a bad thing as long as you keep it on a *personal* level and it helps you to become a better person. More often than not, it is a refuge for control freaks and therefore is a very bad influence on society.

Answer 7

It's both. In some instances like Poland, religion helped people survive against oppressors, in this case the Communist state. But mostly, organized religion is bad. Please notice, I did not say "faith", I said "religion". Just about every organised religion teaches, "we are right, they are wrong" in some way or another. Humanity has to find a way to get past that kind of thinking or we won't survive the greater challanges that await in our lifetimes.

Answer 8

It's agood thing to me because if we're really going along with it , it will give us at least a target in our life. no religion is bad, for sure. the only thing that always makes people thinks that a religion is bad is the behavior of it's certain fellows that is not really knows the rule.

Answer 9

Many people don't really understand what religion is. Religion, simply put, exists solely for one reason. To establish a relationship with God, and a relationship with each other. That is central in all religion.

But, I dunno you tell me, is having a meaningful relationship with your creator and your fellow man a bad thing? How about this:

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 1:27 (NIV)

I dunno about you, but that sounds like a pretty good thing for society to me. Even non-religious people (unless they're very angry and purposely being difficult) will probably agree that Mother Theresa was a good person, good for society. How about Princess Di? granted, she weren't strictly being religious in the churchy sense, but I think she was definitely applying the idea James talked about in that verse.

Answer 10

From an unbiased point of view, I would say good. It helps to control the masses, it provides a way for people to tap into their spirituality, and it is part of the first amendment to have freedom of religion.