what is the point of religion ?

Question

need help for my RME homework can u help

Answer 1

You have to realize how religion were started. In ancient times, people couldn't explain why rain occurred? Why thunderstorm, volcano eruption, earthquakes etc happened? To explain these phenomenas, elite of the society blamed it on the supernatural or some higher power. That's why in Christian history, Islam, Hinduism, you have so many mythical stories.

Answer 2

There is a theory that the brains of human beings are hard wired to search for a deity or higher power.

This would explain why, now that the society is largely atheistic, people are not any more rational - instead, they tend to believe in the efficacy of therapies which have no scientific substantiation, in luck (the lottery) and the power of positive thought.

For a human to think about the meaning and minutiae of their everyday life and then to think about the immensity of the universe and then to think about the fact of a gigantic sunflower plant growing from a tiny seed - this switching from small to large scale thinking is mind-boggling. Science answers the questions so far as it can - religion offers metaphors that have provided past generations (who did not have the science) with story narratives that augment and often complement the science we have now. Neither should be derided.

Answer 3

As far as I can tell the point of religion is to find a higher authority on which to base your moral foundation.
Unfortunately most who go that route come to the conclusion that the higher attributes (loyalty, love, belief) can only be found in that higher power and you can only achieve them if you focus on that power. A very dangerous assumption. The end result is people don't take responsibility for their actions. Instead they believe that if they repent or confess (in private of course) that it's like the damage they've done to other never happened. See the crusades or the role of church in the colonization of the americas. As long as you're relying on someone or something else to provide both your thinking and role model you're sunk.
Unfortunately failing to pick and hold to a moral or ethical standard sees the same degeneration but at quicker rate.

Best call. Pick a moral or ethical standard and go into it with your eyes open. Realize that no group has all the answers and be very skeptical about any that tries in any way to restrict what you can see, read, think or asks you to take harnful action against others.

Answer 4

It fulfils a need. This world can be summarised in 5 terms,
matter, energy, space, time and thought.
Matter is basically frozen energy and exists in space and time, and this is an observational fact.
Thought however is rather more complex.
Some people will believe it is the product of the physical brain, while others will believe it is a spiritual entity.
Many 'ologies, 'osophies, 'iatries, and religions have studied thought in all of its apparencies.
Peculiarities of thought can include insanity, psychic abilities etc. Sometimes we may wish something to happen and the opposite happens, so next time we wish something to happen, we either pretend not to wish for it to happen or wish for the opposite to make the one we want happen!
You can see the peculiarities here. Some of us experience premonition, others don't. But most of us have'had a feeling that was going to happen'. Intuition.
Religions exist in many different forms and with many different
tenets, but they all deal with the peculiarity of thought, and observe it as spirit. (even those religions which claim they don't, for example a catholic once said to me that man is NOT a spiritual being and to think so is satanic, however he believes you go to heaven or hell when you die, but we all know that after years of being dead and buried, all that will be found in your grave is decomposed remains, so WHAT went to heave or hell?)
The idea of god (and this is not to deny the existence of god, nor to confirm) is basically to set the dichotomy. i.e. there can be no good, nor bad without the existence of the other, for what would we then have to compare either with?
Also, most people firmly believe they are right, and although everyone else 'has their ways', each of us believe our way is the correct way. This makes it harder for us to understand all the peculiarities of the world, different races and religions etc.
Religion attempts to create an ideal with which we can measure our own spiritual standing and that of others.

Hope this gives you something to go on, on would you like me to do your homework for you? (just kidding!)

Answer 5

The point of Religion is to have someone to blame when something happens. It is getting less like that as time goes on. However if you look at acient civilizations you will notice that most of them are polytheistic (more than one god). That way if say Posiedon decided to send a tidal wave your way you could just blame him. They also had an agriculture Goddess that got blamed if they had bad crops. If you look around today there is mainly monotheistic religions, and you notice that most people do not believe. These people tend to blame other people when something goes wrong.

As humans we are constantly looking for something to blame when something goes wrong. If you are having a really bad day you probably look up to the sky and say "why me" or "the hits just keep it coming" or my favorite "God must have a twisted sense of humor." It is hard to blame yourself for something, so why not make something up so you will have something to blame.

Answer 6

What would be the point of living without religion? Do you think this world is something that happened by chance? as Albert Einstein said, "God does not play dice" We are put here on Earth for a very short time to show our worthiness to God. You can choose to live in sin here for a slither of time or spend the rest of eternity in hell....read a Divine Revelation of Hell. It would be too easy if God revealed himself because then people wouldn't need faith to believe in him.

Answer 7

I think the biggest reason people need religion is because it helps them to cope with their fear of death and the afterlife. They are afraid of what comes after so they need religion to calm their fears and tell them that they will go to heaven IF they act in certain way and perform certain deeds in their life. And unfortunately, all the world's religions have exploited this fact to control the masses and give themselves great power and wealth.

Answer 8

Here is one thought about religion in a definition:
A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.
http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/religion

When most people think of religion it is most generally associated with something of a spiritual nature.
It's NOT!
THE POINT WOULD BE if your are faithful to brushing your teeth after every meal then you are/can be considered religious.
So religious in this sense is a Good Thing!
If it is associated with being religious on a spiritual level Not necessarily a good thing.
Since this would bring me in part to a CONTROVERSIAL subject I will refrain from a complete answer.
Religious beliefs of some people can be detrimental to others.
The answer comes from what each individual believes about the God that they believe in. Some believe in a god of violence and some in a God of Love. Not all people believe in the same God!
So my thought is brush after every meal deligently and DON'T associate religion with God.

Answer 9

As above but I also think that over time religion has been used to control and coerce large numbers of people. Sometimes for good and sometimes for bad reasons

Answer 10

The point of religions to give people a reason to have morals if they think that there immortal souls will burn in a lake of fire for all eternity for commiting "sins" They will be more inclined to be better people.