Can religion really be wrong?

Question

Religion has been around since the dawn of man, surviving and thriving in the most primative to the most advanced nations so can it really be wrong? Surley since the concept of religion has been around for ages, and is still around and thriving there must be a correct religion out there right? My question is since the concept of a higher being, and or an after life has always been here it only makes since that there is a correct religion out there somewhere...right?



forgive my spelling...

The earth was believed to have been flat for 4000 years but religon of one sort or another has been around since the begining.

Answer 1

Not quite true. Religions are no longer being ‘born’ because a scientific epistemology has replaced folk beliefs and mythological creatures as our primary means of explaining the physical universe and our role in it.

Christianity, Judaism, and Islam (Abrahams three step sons) are based on the worldview of historically obscure semi-nomadic tribes of illiterate Semitic goat herders who thought the earth was flat with air above and water below, and that the night sky was a dome with lights provided by god.

It takes time for new knowledge to work its way through human society and culture. Everyone did not jump onboard the Copernican universe theory right away, including the Catholic Church which wanted to kill Galileo (and would have if not for Galileo having some very powerful friends).

And even though Benjamin Franklin proved that lightning was electricity, many people continued to believe that lightning was a sign (good as often as bad) of god’s current opinion about some earthly condition or event through most of the 19th century. During the America Civil War, Generals for the Union and the Confederacy both though lightening was a sign from god that things would go their way during the next battle.

Answer 2

There is nothing wrong with having beliefs. There are beliefs that are wrong, however.

There is no correct religion out there. The idea that a religion is correct, that we have all the answers already, has slowed the progress of humankind more than anything else, I'm sure. As long as you know you are right, there is no need to hear anyone elses opinion. Some people even kill other people for having other opinions.

The only correct religion available is the religion that is correct for you. The more books you have read, the more perspectives you see, the more you will realize that noone's belief system should be encapsulated in 1 book. Who you are cannot be summed up in 1 book and god cannot be either. Just because someone has some good ideas about what god wants from you, or who god is, or where we came from that doesn't mean that everybody else is wrong.

Don't limit yourself and your understanding.

Answer 3

Okay lets take a step back real quick and think.....

1.Humans are not perfect
2.Humans create religion and the doctrines of those religions

Therefore no religion is perfect, and yes it can be wrong. So wrong that people get killed over it. Man has always used religion for explination of how things came to be, to govern their societies, and some to have an after life since no one really knows what will happen after we die. Saying that there is a correct religion out there is putting your faith in man and making him infallable. I just simply can't do that. What I can do is continue to learn and grow as person, make sound decisions, and always keep an open mind.

Answer 4

Well, haven't conflicting religions been around all of this time?... And why would the age of an idea make it more credible?... The idea of the flat earth has been around quite a while, it was the only concept until around 4000 years ago it was the only concept anybody really accepted... But do you think these people have to be right?:

http://theflatearthsociety.org/forums/

An od idea isn't necisarily an enlightened idea.

Answer 5

Everything has validity. I always used to explain it to people like this: If you take 5 different groups of people, put them in separate rooms, give them all the same materials, and tell them to build a dollhouse, do you really think all 5 of those dollhouses will look exactly the same? That's the situation with religion. We all believe there is something behind the curtain pulling the strings, but we've never been able to see it or find out for sure what it is. So we have all these different ideas of what it is. But the same basic principle is there in all of them.

Answer 6

You need to distinguish between religion and spirituality. A person can be spiritual without being part of a religion. A person can be good without the threat of omniscient retaliation. After all, the threat of omniscient wrath never stopped anyone from doing bad things.

Religion is an attempt to standardize spirituality. There is no one right religion. All religions eventually become corrupt. Its heirarchy will attempt to insure influence over its followers. Predjudices will be enshrined as vices or virtues.

Answer 7

Viruses have been around since before the dawn of man, surviving and thriving. That doesn't mean they're a good thing.

Answer 8

No. There is no correct religion. Show me a Religion that says you are BORN IN SIN and I'll show you a false religion. Look into the innocense of a baby's eyes and you'll KNOW that we aren't born in sin. It is called Brainwashing. There is no correct religion.

Answer 9

There is no one "correct" religion. Religion and spiritual paths are a very personal choice that one has to make for themselves, and it has to be one that is going to allow them to grow spiritually as well as teach them how to live a good, moral life in the process.

Answer 10

Millions of people become alcoholics and drug addicts, too... just because it's always been happening or been around as a concept doesn't mean it's right. The "everybody's doing it" argument rarely applies.