Can anyone tell me 10 positive things that religion has given us?

Question

Its easy to pick apart the negatives, but how difficult is it really to come up with ten positive things that we have received from religion.

Answer 1

1. Aid in survival
2. Acquaintance with history
3. Universities
4. Hospitals
5. The invention of the clock,
6. Libraries and Scriptoria
7. Painting and sculpture
8. Architecture
9. Stable traditions
10. Preservation of languages

Answer 2

It is true that man has used religion for political gain. Nazi Germany had "God with us" engraved in German on the belts of Nazi soldiers. America said, "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition." The law may even allow you to start the Christian Nazi Party, if you so desire. You can become a "reverend" for a few dollars through the tabloid classifieds and then further your political agenda with the world’s blessing, no matter how much it smears the name of Christ.

Jesus tells us in John 16:2,3 that there will be some who, in their error, commit atrocities and murder in the name of God: "The time is coming that whosoever kills you will think that he does God service." However, He informs us that these are not true believers: "And these things will they do to you, because they have not known the Father, nor me." (See also 1 John 3:15.)

Jesus told His followers to love their enemies. So if a man puts a knife into someone’s back in the name of Christianity, something obviously isn’t right. If we human beings can detect it, how much more will God? He will deal with it on Judgment Day.

"I know that the Lord is always on the side of right. But it is my constant
anxiety and prayer that I—and this nation—should be on the Lord’s side."
-Abraham Lincoln

Answer 3

1) Some songs that are OK.
2) Some of the holidays turned out decent once they were secularized.
3) Interesting architecture.
4) They helped push the "Golden Rule" that was invented previous to them.
5) The Bible gives us some insight into how primitive cultures lived.
6) They're good at organizing charities, as long as they're allowed to slap their religion up on the building and advertise.
7) Some of the Bible stories are interesting as literature.
8) Some of the Bible references catalogue some historical names and places that might not have been recorded otherwise.
9) Early religious monks actually made progress on science, like the invention of some early clocks, at least until their findings started countering some of their propaganda.
10) Monks and nuns have made decent beer and wine.

(Whew! That was tough.)

Answer 4

As a historian I appreciate the writing skills of medieval clerics and the texts that they produced. I suppose protestantism had a hand in bringing about the emergence of liberal democracy and free market economics. Other than that I can't think of much positive that religion has brought to humanity.

Answer 5

I hope in religion you are speaking of God and his son, so here is a few off the top of my head that belief in God the Father and Jesus that is a positive thing......
Hope
Identity
Love
Compassion
Giving to others
Helping others
Being needed
Being wanted
Belief in someone other than yourself
Believing in yourself
Habits(hopefully good ones)
Commitment
and most of all Faith

Answer 6

Nothing but doctrines, however God gives us:
Love, Faith, Forgiveness, Hope, Peace, Charity, Strength, Joy, Peace, Acceptance and Freedom, just a few of His many benefits.

Answer 7

The 10 Commandments

Answer 8

1) theists to make fun at
2) Christmas gifts
3) Thanks giving turkeys
4) upside-down crosses ( i'm a metalhead and those are timeless)
5) Adolf Hitler and his Christian Aryan supremism ( but is this a positive thing?)
6) an excuse for hedonism ( just say 'religion is stupid and I don't want to be stupid so gotta have beer and boobies right now', but again is this really positive?)
Ah, screw it , I give up. Cant think of 10 of them.

Answer 9

Harvard, Yale, joy, hope, peace, good music, hospitals, Christmas, Easter, thats 9

Answer 10

-An understanding of the unknowable in the form of metaphor. As knowledge expands, religion should back away from the metaphor.

-It acts a vessel to iterate the basic idea "Treat others as you wish to be treated".

-Good advice on how to safely cut one's hair when one is a nomadic tribesmen in the ancient middle-east.