In being so, they are designed only to control the lives of people. Also, the existence of many religions suggests that no god actually exists. But what do you think?
Man, I'm on a roll with these religious questions. Just trying to incite some rational thinking in this place for once.
2006-09-09 20:43:29 · 18 answers · asked by Redeemer 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Also, what makes one's religion better than anothers? Just because your leader said so? Good and evil are not only matters of religions. They are matters of the world entirely.
2006-09-09 20:45:08 · update #1
The way I see it, people look for explanations for the things they do not understand and sometimes the only explanation they can think of is that there is some superior being, a god, who does things or created them. That is faith. Then there is religion, which in my opinion is in most cases used as a power tool. People are taught "the truth" of the religion and obliged to follow it (scared with stories about hell and encouraged with the promise of paradise, heaven, if they do as they are told). When people follow a religion that keeps the religious leaders in power, they have a strong influence on society and can make people do pretty much what they want them to as long as they can lead them to believe it is what god wants. Often in history this made religious leaders wealthy as well.
So I agree with you that religions are man-made institutions and I believe most of them are designed to control people. Sometimes the purpose was probably to keep society "in order" by having some rules, sometimes people were just trying to please god and trying to imagine what god wants from them, and sometimes the purpose was clearly about power and wealth.
Whether there is a god or not, religions are clearly man-made. Faith in god is a separate thing.
No offense to religious folks, this is just my opinon and my view of it.
2006-09-09 21:43:31 · answer #1 · answered by undir 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Even if there is a divinity out there, and even if that divinity has inspired a sacred text or three, religions are still human-made institutions.
I don't think that religion was originally used to control people's lives, but to provide a sense of order, explanations of natural phenomena including human behaviour, how the world works. Religion also fills other normal needs -- security, surety, guidance, inspiration, community and much more. It's an extraordinarily powerful psychological force -- witness the vehemence and vitriol on these pages -- and as such is subject to misuse and abuse from those in power. In short, religion fills strong human needs and is therefore exceptionally useful for those with power to control and influence those without. It helped get GWB into office.
That isn't to say that religion should be done away with, something else like patriotism will just fill its place. At the very least, religion has existence separate from government and is supposed to be about morals and living ethically. Although the current mainstream practices could use some major improvements, I honestly don't see how we'd be in a better place with no religion at all.
I think that if there is something we can appropriately call God, it's in the realm of natural forces. I think that science is actually a better way of learning about what that is; religion tells us far more about our selves and our psychology than it does about the actual nature of the divine.
2006-09-09 21:16:07 · answer #2 · answered by The angels have the phone box. 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No not at all. God pervades through every single religion in this world. Every religion speaks about the same God. If you spend some time learning about them you can find out some amazing similarities. You will find that there are many underlying concepts that are similar in all religions. Its just too much to explain. But i'll mention some basic things in which all religions unite.
1) All Religions speaks about God as a immense power that resides within us and not a separate entity. The identification of God with the term 'Pure Consiousness' is an amazingly similar in most of the religions.
2)Every religion teaches on the exact same ways to reach God.
3) There are concrete Historical evidences. Like, the same history narrated in the Bible is seen in the other 2 major religons in this world ie; Hinduism and Islam .
There are many other similarities too. Like the description abt the paradise, they are amazingly interrelated and many other things like that.
2006-09-09 23:19:32 · answer #3 · answered by Sergia Mary 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, religion is definitely a man-made institution.
However, that's a HUGE leap in logic to assume that God is also a man-made institution, and it happens to be FALSE. All you have to do is look out your window and see the stars to know that God actually exists.
The existence of so many religions actually proves that there really is a God. Man has been trying for all his existence to explain God. That's why religions exist.
As for what makes one religion better than others - it's called TRUTH. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. If you want a life, you'd better stop asking all these inflammatory questions that are only designed to make people mad, not truly designed to make people think rationally. Quit asking these questions and read your Bible.
2006-09-09 20:47:31 · answer #4 · answered by midlandsharon 5 · 0⤊ 3⤋
I agree with you. Religion is surely man-made. But about God I am not so sure. It is possible that he is man made. But if you delve deep into mass psychology you will find that when the subconscious of a large numbe of people belives in something then it is not made any more. It is there. I will rather look at it this way. What is the use of each of them to man. The only use of religion till date is reduction of population. It kills a lot of humans. Whereas as God and belief in Him tends to make you behave more tolerable to others and more humane. Do believe in Him, at least for our sake!
2006-09-09 23:37:14 · answer #5 · answered by ananth59 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Religions are an invention of guy. There might want to be an more suitable probability of a highly better creature having created the universe as all of us know it, than an invisible God who made us in his liking. by using the undeniable fact that's, why might want to you actually have a gender in case you may want to seem the universe at your very will (except you made it so there replaced into no more desirable exhilaration contained in the universe than sex)? What might want to be the point of coming up and gazing us, if he had be waiting to predict the destiny? What does he do, basically seem down upon us and watch us stay our really repetitive existence? (Wake, eat, artwork, Watch television, Sleep, repeat, etc.)
2016-11-25 23:12:16 · answer #6 · answered by weyhrauch 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
religions are man made to control the world that is why the are a lot of not real gods the thing is now the christians just want to take over the planet with there fake god now thay have been trying to brainwash the planet for years now but now the trurth is coming out and thay are loosing control and thay do not like it
2006-09-10 01:24:40 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes both religion and the idea of god are man made. we made them up cuz we were afraid of stuff like storms, floods, death etc. so we needed something to explain all that and we started worshiping them. it all got more and more rigid and became a way of life. Hate all that crap.
See, there are people here who have a rational thought process. lol
2006-09-09 20:53:23 · answer #8 · answered by subirendra 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
NO it just means that people have different ideas of what GOD is like.
Look at the changes in thinking from the Bibles start to current finish have gone through.
2006-09-09 20:51:59 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I agree with you. It is my belief that the Bible is the word of Man, not the word of God. I believe also that religion is used to control and oppress others.
2006-09-09 20:50:51 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋