Is religion a coping mechanism?

Answer 1

yeah, i think it is a coping mechanism. then again, watching Golden Girls is a coping mechanism too, and i watch a lot of Golden Girls.

anyway, being spiritual does help me cope with everyday crap that sort of makes me hate the word and think all people are evil. channeling positive energies and praying to my Higher Power just makes me feel okay about myself, like i am not small or big, but just okay the way i am because (i personally)think that God created me just as i am-a sinner and a saint in one. and it makes me feel like we're all kind of like that. and that helps me cope with the idea of war, death, racism, and other things that just physically make me want to vomit, because they exsist. church doesn't help, very few so called "christians" help, sometimes reading the Bible even confuses the crap out of me. that's when i just do my prayer/mediation/helping others routine and i feel connected to the Lord, just by myself. i never needed a church or hell to scare me into my faith. (ps.i feel really sorry for christians who harrass people simply because they think differently-man, that totally goes against anything Christ taught. It was all supposed to be about love, and now it's all about politics, laws, wars, images, money,etc...)

(also to mutterhals:thank you for making me feel like an open minded person. i've always felt that way which made it hard for me to be accepted in alot of churches, at least in the south-where i live. ps. i love your blogs and i laugh my head off until people at work look at me like i'm a maniac.)

Answer 2

"Coping" is just part of it. More generally it is a cultural product that abstracts reality in a peculiar way. The peculiarity of it is the anthropomorphic quality of the "explanations" of reality. God(s) are depicted as barely disguised "wise" or "powerful" men/women, some with the same foibles as real men and women. Even the Abrahamic god is described as having created humans in his image - which inverts the obvious. This god is then described as capable of anger, vengefulness, and, most interestingly, a colossal vanity. (Exactly what one would expect to see in the tyrants that ruled over the scribes who wrote the descriptions.) The reason for religious entities being so “man-like” is the subject of some great anthropological work. (See example below).

Religion can also serve a multitude of other cultural purposes, which are more variable, depending on the culture is question. Perhaps one of the most important is the propagating, indirectly, a sense of community.

Answer 3

In a way, yes -- but that doesn't mean that it's false.

After all, medicine is a coping mechanism for when you feel sick. But that doesn't mean that medicine isn't real, or isn't effective.

My religion -- Roman Catholicism -- is a coping mechanism. It makes me cope with the idea that my soul is immortal, and that where my soul ends up for all eternity is up to me.

It's one coping mechanism that I'm glad to have at my disposal. Otherwise, my grasp on the realities of God and of eternal life would be nonexistent.

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Answer 4

that is a good question. yet you should respond to it with techniques from first defintion what faith is. you word God created guy with an inner void. it truly is, each and every human being worships some thing. I, a Christian, worship God. And my worship of Him determines how I see the international, it impacts my critiques and perceptions, my morality, and it almost continuously dictates how I stay my existence. Atheists worship technology. Scienctific understanding, determines how they stay their existence, what how they see the international, it shapes their morality, ect.... That suggested faith isnt only a coping mechanism it necesarry because with the help of it we hit upon meaning and purpose to existence. If there have been no such element because the afterlife then morality must be meaningless.. I advise why be honest for your spouse/lady friend even as your tempted to cheat? Why not only follow natures impuses to have sex as a lot as plausible? Why not thieve once you word some thing you cant purchase? wny not lie to cover up the fact? for the sake of argument lets say you should do those type of issues and get away with it without hurting absolutely everyone. You cheated on your spouse, and they by no skill discover out, you thieve and the save by no skill misses the product, you lie and no human being ever famous out... why is it nonetheless incorrect to take action? We inherently comprehend that there'll be some type of consequece for incorrect doing, that hitler didnt only "get away" with killing 11 million, and Sadam Hussein didnt only get away with each and each and every of the chance free blood he shed. all of us comprehend deep down in our souls that there's a cost to pay for evil, no matter if you dont pay for it in this existence....

Answer 5

Among other things. It is also a "way" of thinking and doing things in life. A religious person tends to support the weak and helpless, although some (such as terrorists) are rather "selective" about helping others.

Answer 6

it may become the next coping(controlling) mechanism.the reason i say that is because if people(you) believe in something enough you will try to convince people(others) your idea is better than the rest.that is how everything will start changing.....and if your not on the team you will be considered an enemy...........

Answer 7

I wouldn't just say coping because it is in someways proactive. it is a defense mechanism as well I guess.

Answer 8

Given that the more religious you get, the less able you are to cope, I'd say no.

Answer 9

Partially. I think it started out as a way to explain things of the world we didn't know. However, to a large extent, it is promoted on the back of human insecurities. Religion really tries to captialize on this to gain converts. That's why their main tool is emotional manipulation.

Answer 10

For some people it may be.