How does religion advance society?

Answer 1

Good teachings, when practiced by well meaning people, produce a positive result. Such as feeding the poor, etc.
Bad teachings, when practiced by destructive poeple, produce a negative result. Such as blowing up innocent people, etc.
What is good and what is bad? We as individuals ultimately decide for ourselves. What is positive and what is negative, which path do we choose? We as individuals choose.
The real question is how does religion advance the individual.

Answer 2

Religion does not advance society today, though it may have done so in the past. Religions may contribute to some level of social organization on the same level of any political ideology that unites a group of people. Look at the popes of the past centuries, the wars and inquisitions fought in the name of this belief or that, the Renaissance and finance of art by the church, etc. But thanks to the Enlightenment and other movements toward secular knowledge, the social benefits of religion has been replaced or neutralized. Everything that religions have done to benefit others, from orphanages to soup kitchens, can also now be completed by secular organizations, without diverting any funds for wayward projects such as building more churches.

All religion has to distinguish itself from other philosophies is the belief in the supernatural.

But it does not make sense to believe in the supernatural when humans understand so much more about the universe than in previous centuries and how reality defies our expectations or order or design. The earth is not the center of the universe, for instance, and it may not be the only planet with life.

I am convinced that religions are irrational because they are based on faith, as are all belief systems, from deism to Christianity and Islam. Faith says "believe in the unseen," and tells you not to prove anything. In short you cannot argue with any other religious belief, because all beliefs are equally unlikely to be true, without evidence.

Religion has social and emotional roots that are easy to understand. It is a tool to connect with other people, even if their practitioners do not realize it.

You can feel powerfully and passionately about your faith. But that does not mean gods exist. I once believed in a god. I used to believe in several. But I never saw evidence of these beliefs.

Unfortunately, religion has not improved very much in the past few centuries, though some groups have renounced violence. Unfortunately, this state is regressing.

Some contemporary faiths require detaching oneself from science and other tools that help society to advance. Just take a look at the opposition to evolutionary theory and stem cell research. Most of the people opposing it do not even understand the facts or potential of such research. The facts are not democratic. The worst of anti-science neurosis is coming from fundamentalist branches of Islam and Christianity.

I wish it were not the case, because knowledge and research help our society to advance and survive, but people don't want to be informed, and many use religion as an excuse to cave to a Dark Age mentality.

Answer 3

Depends on which religion you're asking about. Look at Islam, for instance, that society hasn't advanced since the 9th century.

On the other hand, many brilliant scientists are Jews and they have advanced the world in tremendous ways!

Answer 4

Religion has advanced society. Look at the golden age of Islam, while the Europeans were going through their dark ages, Islamic countries were at their height in science and technology.

Answer 5

It's ironic that the early church contributed to the onset of the Dark Ages, yet Christian monasteries became centers of learning and rediscovery of ancient knowledge during those times.

Many important scientists were either clergy or were devoutly religious. Copernicus and Kepler were priests. Newton himself was religious. Gregor Mendel, considered the "father of genetics", was an Augustinian priest. Quantum physicist Wolfgang Pauli was a devout Catholic.

The church showed its dark side too. Galileo was threatened with torture for insisting that Jupiter has moons as does the Earth. Giordano Bruno, himself a Catholic priest, was burned at the steak in 1600 for proposing the existence of extraterrestrial life.

Individual Christians can be credited with the advancement of science, but the church itself is guilty of suppressing it and denying society its benefits.

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Answer 6

Teaching about love and morals. Hospitals and universities were started by Christianity. Why do we try to help those who are poor and homeless? You can blame Christianity and Judaism.
The clergy taught the people to love and we started to look at war as being wrong. Look at how the Romans fought wars and look at how we today fight wars. People in the West do not believe in bombing or attacking civilians. The Romans had no problem with attacking civilians.

Clergy, black clergy mainly, were the leaders of the civil rights movement.

Child labor laws had their start in religion. The list goes on and on.

Answer 7

It used to maintain order by providing a moral code by which a great number lived. A widely accepted moral code does have it's advantages but the level of accumulated human knowledge has sky-rocketed in the last 2 centuries. A moral code (which is the bibles only possible benefit) that is primitive and rigid can only serve to hinder not advance in any way.

Answer 8

The belief in a power greater than ourselves is obviosly something we have had as human beings since the dawn of man. There have been set backs as well as progression as a result of religious beliefs.
Mostly though it has always been a tool based in fear used to manipulate or control the population, the sheep.
Today, modern spirituality, even modern thinking Christians, have the ability to interpret the words in their books on their own...too bad more don't kick in reasoning and common sence while reading the "sacred" texts.
I think humans will outlive religion as we know it.

Answer 9

Do you mean religion per se, or some religions? Some make people more generous, and sponsor soup kitchens and like that. Some are sincerely working on ethics, and people are nicer in general. Lots of them are good at inspiring various music, art, literature, and so forth, even architecture. They tend to keep people off the streets and give them something to do besides read the New York Times on Sunday mornings. And they sponsor camps and sports and things to give kids something to do.

Lots of useful things. Lots of crap, too, but that's life.

Answer 10

Most of the major scientific advances were by men of great faith.

Any limits on the evil that men may do is an advance of society. Granted, many of those limits are voluntary.