Does religion encourage people to be weak minded?

Question

Religious people believe God is the answer to every question and problem. God makes all decisions and controls everyhting. he created the Earth and everything in it.

Answer 1

It depends how you define weak minded; Shutting out all critical thinking, ignoring logic and the very, very obvious, hanging on to beliefs and insisting the world is not how it actually is despite all evidence to the contrary might require, it could be argued, quite a strong mind, in a rather scary sort of way! I mean, those guys who come up with the 'God put the dinosaur fossils there to test our faith' ideas have minds that are absolutely bullet-proof!!

Answer 2

Belief in God does not make people weak minded, organised religion does. Organised religion is simply a tool for maintaining control over people. I agree some are worse than others and some are very clever at making you think that they are encouraging you to be strong and questioning whilst at the same time making you feel that you have to attend every meeting going, knock on peoples doors etc. People who really believe don't need telling how to do it, neither do they need other, mere mortals to tell what the Bible means. I would go so far to say that organised religion has been hijacked by darker forces, take a look at Revelation and see if you can identify Babylon the Great.

Answer 3

I think religion does, but not spirituality.

Christianity and other organized religions tell people to essentially not think for themselves, but just to accept what men have written and what is said in church (or mosque, synogogue, whatever). Religion has to do with social control, not spirituality.

It's funny because even Jesus said (as well as Buddha and others) that each has to work out there own salvation - that goes against following someone else's dogmatic teachings. I have noticed that a lot here who talk of science are rather dogmatic as well and I believe that for many science is their religion.

Personally, I'm an eclectic. I believe that if you want true spirituality you have to explore and learn as much as possible. I don't believe that there is a "map to heaven" but only guideposts here and there - the trick is in finding them and trying to figure out which way they are pointing.

Answer 4

There are some subtleties at work here that seem to be escaping most people. They have to do with the nature of 'belief'.

A rational person might say "I believe in the Big Bang." A religious person might say "I believe in creation, as described in Genesis." But these statements are not even remotely similar, with respect to what is meant by the word 'believe'.

For the rational person, the statement of 'belief' in the Big Bang means that they understand that the concept provides a scientifically and mathematically consistent explanation, congruent with the evidence, which accounts for the evolution of the universe from a fraction of a second after the initiating event, up until the present. When the 'inflationary model' came to the fore, rational people said "Well, good... that clears up a few questions and makes things even more coherent." NOBODY threw up their arms and wailed "Oh, no... oh, no... ain't so... ain't so... the Big Bang is the inerrant truth... not this ridiculous, atheistic 'inflationary' model."

See... when we say "I believe in the Big Bang", we don't really mean the same thing as the religious person means when he says "I believe in creation, as described in Genesis," or "I believe in God." Our 'belief' in the Big Bang (or anything else) isn't really a 'belief'... it is more properly a 'paradigm'... a useful way of looking at something, or thinking about something. If additional information is uncovered that adds to the conceptual model, that is a good thing... not a disaster. If part of the conceptual model is discovered to be incorrect, and must be tossed in the trash and replaced with something completely different... that is also a good thing... not the end of the world as we know it. And often, no matter how highly confident we may be of the accuracy or completeness of a particular paradigm, we may have reason to apply a DIFFERENT paradigm to the same thing; for example, we might want to contemplate the potential implications of a major change in a physics theory from the perspective of the Tao, the Gaia hypothesis, or ecological homeostasis. We KNOW that all theories are approximations... and that is OK. We KNOW that we don't know all the answers... and that is OK. There is nothing wrong with saying "We don't know... yet; but we're working on it."

But these modes of thinking, perceiving, contemplating and understanding are utterly alien to the 'religious' mind. For the religious mind, a 'belief' is not a paradigm... not a useful way of thinking about something... it is an internalized conviction that one knows the absolute 'truth' pertaining to some aspect of existence and/or fundamental reality. 'Beliefs' are a key component filter of the religious person's 'self-description'... a part of what DEFINES them as a person... the very thing that creates their world-view... their 'subjective reality'. Any attack on one of these internalized 'beliefs' is interpreted as a vital threat... an attack upon the 'self-description'... and attack on their subjective reality.

And here is the key difference: When there is a change in one of the paradigms dealing with a scientific concept, or a new insight into the workings of the universe, it constitutes an interesting new piece of knowledge and understanding. However, if some new piece of information (a feature of the universe, for example) seems to threaten a tenet of Christianity, everybody goes to battle stations, goes into 'damage control' mode... for fear that the whole edifice will come crashing down. And, ultimately, it will.

So, when a fundie disparages evolution, for example, it really has nothing to do with a genuine, intellectual dispute regarding scientific details... they are generally scientifically illiterate, anyway. Any 'scientific' arguments that they present are inevitably not even understood... they are just lifted from the pre-packaged lies and misrepresentations that are found on dozens of 'Liars for Jesus' (LFJ) web sites, and parroted. They are in a battle. They are trying to sink science before science sinks them. They are desperate... and science is (mostly, and unfortunately) oblivious to the fact that they are even in a fight, and that somebody is trying to sink them. They are just blithely bopping along, doing what science does... figuring out how nature works.

No... none of this has anything to do with a mere disagreement pertaining to evidence and understanding. It has to do with minds that deal with fundamental issues in an entirely different way. It has to do with a flexible, open-minded, intellectually honest curiosity about the universe contending with a rigid, unyielding world-view that depends from a certainty that their delusional faith-based 'beliefs' represent the absolute 'truth' of reality.

We might as well be talking to an alien species, from a distant planet.

When the religious enter a forum like this one, they are (generally) NOT seeking new information which might allow them to QUESTION their beliefs more effectively, or might put their beliefs at risk... they are seeking VALIDATION... of their beliefs, and hence, their self-description.

Answer 5

I think it does.

But one problem. God doesn't make all decisions. He created free will for a reason. And while God is all-powerful, we do have the ability to control our actions.

And he may be the answer to every question, but he doesn't just give answers. We have to seek them. And even when we seek them, it may not be the answer we wanted.

And he may have created everything in it, but he has to have hands willing to do his work.

So don't try to lump all 'religious' people into one group. That is as offensive as, "Black people all live in the ghetto." or "All white people are deceitful and power hungry." or "Every Islamic person is a suicidial maniac."

If one of your family members is a killer, does that mean all your family members are killers?
People are individuals, not the group they come from. Don't lose the concept of distinction.

Answer 6

You paint a pretty broad picture there, girly!
Not all religious people believe that God controls everything.
My viewpoint is that God gave us free will...to make moral and ethical choices.
From that, I would consider myself (and similar like-minded people) as being strong-minded...thinking for ourselves.

Where I find many so-called religious people as being weak, is when they blame all evil on some kind of devil.
The only devil on this earth is the person who hurts other people.
The only hell on this earth is the one created by that evil person.

Answer 7

Religion can lead people to be more narrow-minded, weak, ignorant, prejudiced, and hateful.

It can also help people become kinder, more forgiving, more compassionate.

Depends on the person. Some of the kindest people I've met have been religious; of course, some of the most judgmental have been religious!

So...I believe any religion is good, if it makes you wiser, kinder, more loving.

Answer 8

If "God makes all decisions and controls everything." then He's made a pretty shambolic job of things, hasn't He? He created us "in His image" - with a free will, which we choose to exercise.

Answer 9

God does not make all decisions and controls everything, that is liberals, how did you get the two mixed up? God makes people stronger minded. Any atheist i talk to is always set on their beliefs and does not allow anything to interrupt their 'world'. God also helps people quit their addictions. God only makes people stronger

Answer 10

not everyone is like that and not every religion is either
since becoming spiritualist i have taken my life more into my own hands , i am responsible for my life and my actions
i do not blame god for anything bad that happens and equally so for anything good ... i am in control of what i bring to my life