Religion is for the childish?

Question

Is religion just for the childish? Those whose minds have not matured? Those who rely on imagination and wishful thinking? Those who cannot think for themselves?

I have a couple of comparisons.

1.) As a child: If you leave your toy on the floor, don't go to bed on time, or don't finish your veggies, you are told you will be sent to your room or the corner or a certain amount of time, or as you get older, grounded. If you are nice to your sister, get good grades, do your chores, then you are rewarded with extended curfews, gifts, money, and your parents in your good graces.

In religion, if you break one of God's laws, you are punished by burning in hell for eternity. If you do something good, you are rewarded with everlasting life in a place called heaven.

Both: Use punishment and reward to drill in morals and good behaviour.
Use scare tactics to make the person afraid to do wrong.

2.) As a child: You have 4 siblings, and all compete for your parents affection and attention. You assume you are the favourite and most liked, and your actions will always exeed your siblings. You like to think your parents are most proud of you when you do something good.

In Religion: There are many different beliefs and religions. All assume they are correct and they are the ones will be saved.

Both: Sibling rivalry.

3.) As a child: You were an only child, or maybe even not, and were a bit lonely and bored. You had imaginary friends to talk to and keep you company, and keep your imagination flying and alive. They all had names, they followed you around and you could read eachothers minds. They were your best friend.

In Religion: God is there when you are feeling down and unloved, he is the one who will always be there with you and care about you, he is there when you need someone to talk to, and can always know what you are thinking.

Both: Use imaginary characters to give comfort.

4.) As a child: You think the moon is a giant wheel of cheese, the stars are fireflies stuck in the sky, and babies come from storks. There are so many things you cannot understand but you come up with your own imaginative and creative and simple explanation for the things around you.

In Religion: You think man came from out of nowhere, and two people had made all of the races, and all the people in the world. You imagine after you die, you will float on a cloud with all of your loved ones. Life is happily ever after.

Both: Use imagination as far their minds can understand to explain the unexplainable.

5.) As a child: You are protected from hearing about the latest murder on the news.Your parents do not let you watch certain shows, so you don’t get any ideas. You are shielded from certain programs, games, activities, even people, to keep your innocence.

In Religion: You are told to avoid reading anything faith altering. Stay away from the “anti-Christ”. Do not read about evolution, or any alternatives to the after life. Only accept what your own religion tells you to be true. The others are wrong.

Both: Hiding and covering up real issues to keep innocence and ignorance.

Answer 1

Religion is for the childlike.

Jesus said that if one cannot be like a child, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Answer 2

Religion deals with some of the most mature and fundamental issues of the human mind. The question of who we are, why we eixst, whether there is a meaning to life, what is the natural of morality, whether there is a God, and how we relate to him.

Those are not questions for a "childish" mind. If fact, they are questions that have probably filled more hours of worry and more volumes of speculation then any other questions in history. Many brilliant men have spend thousand of hours on each side of the issues trying to come up with a clear understanding of them.

If religion often expressed in simple terms to make it easier for people to graps. Yes. Just we talking about having two apples and adding to more apples gives us four apples. Using concrete, real world examples can make grasping the concept simpler. But it does not mean that the math can not be carried far beyond the "apples" concept to design rockets that reach the moon or computers that make possible the Internet.

You listed some very very simple and basic religious ideas, and then seem to be stating that those are somehow the deepest tht religion gets, or the sum total of all the ideas. Yet you have barely scratched the surface of the concept of God and faith.

Answer 3

God always takes the simplest way. God does not play dice. God may be subtle, but he isn't plain mean. All quotes attributed to Al Einstein. Looking at all the responses posted here, quoting Einstein is like quoting the Bible. I do not know his exact thoughts on the nature of God, and neither does anyone else but Einstein, so I won't presume to place him in a theological catagory. As for religion, while I see his point and can certainly understand how he arrives at that conclusion, I do not know with certainty what he means in light of other quotes except that he wasn't a fan of organized religion or the God that those religions worship. But to the question, do I find religion childish? No. Of course its legends seem childish but look at when they were written. Mankind was much more childish. Nor would I simplify the multitude of reasons for people to find religion with dismissive ideas like they are all afraid or mentally inferior. I refuse to perscribe simplistic motives for existence of human institutions and why people embrace them. I think they (religions) are intended to promote personal growth and provide an ethical framework. That is a good thing, isn't it? I know many thoughtful, caring, considerate, intelligent religious people and some atheists who are real jerks and rock heads. You don't have to be any smarter to not believe in a God then you have to be to believe in a God.

Answer 4

I like the way you put everything in its own category, creative and interesting. To me religion is to limit your imagination. The idea of hell actually came from volcano's. Religion is only a belief that you keep believing. If you are taught it as a child you will most likely grown up believing it and teach it to you children and the cycle continues.

Answer 5

Childish religion is for the childish. When Esquire asked Dustin Hoffman the most surprising thing he knows about God now that he's older Dustin replied, "He grew up."

When I was young, God was magic. When I was sixteen God was a Gigantic Old Guy toying with the world. Now God is that which I experience before and beyond all words and images and for which all these metaphors are completely inappropriate and insufficient.

Edit: Thumbs down folks - look up developmental psychology, from Piaget to Ken Wilber where science confirms EXACTLY what I am saying and then explain to me why you throw that scientific discovery out.

Answer 6

Militant atheists who attack believers’ beliefs and militant fundies who attack other believers’ beliefs

Essentially both dispensing unthinking hatred and bigotry – Fundies and Athies cut from the same bolt of cloth.

Turn a hateful Athie inside-out and whattya got? A hateful Fundie. And vice versa.

Who’d a thunk it?

Answer 7

Sounds like what I've been saying for years.

"Religion is the training wheels for life. You're supposed to outgrow them eventually but too many people are afraid they're going to fall and scrape their knees so they keep them on."

Answer 8

I agree with the general concept of your question as it has been proved it is better suited to control the masses.

Answer 9

i completely agree with you! but this question will probably be deleted for offending the namby pamby religious people...

Answer 10

Sounds about right, I like your analogies.