bendy Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 I can only think that it is because TPTB cling onto the hope that there may be some salvation for them after the pain and misery they have dished out in their mortal lives. I saw some news the other day that Blair was pushing some educational dogma entailing tolerance or some other such waffle – a prime example of an arsehole who will hope he’s got a space reserved for his holy actions. Unfortunately some of the plebs are also taken in by it, whether that be actual belief, social reasons, family pressure or another ridiculous reason. Discuss the issues! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Masked Tulip Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 To control others through fear and to empower and rich those who are in charge of the various religions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bossybabe Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Because the plebs' IQ's and gullibility remain low. Edit for TGG: because the plebs' IQ remains low and their gullibility is correspondingly high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Generation Game Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Because the plebs' IQ's and gullibility remain low. Low IQ = low gullibility? If I believe that am I gullible? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuggets Mahoney Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Unfortunately some of the plebs are also taken in by it, whether that be actual belief, social reasons, family pressure or another ridiculous reason. Discuss the issues! Because, however imperfectly manifest, it caters to a basic human psychological need. I can't help noticing that the replies so far can arguably apply as equally to organised political parties as organised religion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnionTerror Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 I can only think that it is because TPTB cling onto the hope that there may be some salvation for them after the pain and misery they have dished out in their mortal lives. I saw some news the other day that Blair was pushing some educational dogma entailing tolerance or some other such waffle – a prime example of an arsehole who will hope he’s got a space reserved for his holy actions. Unfortunately some of the plebs are also taken in by it, whether that be actual belief, social reasons, family pressure or another ridiculous reason. Discuss the issues! Yep, I see it as religion scaring us to conform, so that you are not punished (or perhaps rewarded) in the here after....all playing into our fear of the unknown... I could image Pin becoming a cult leader... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sPinwheel Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Wanting there to be meaning to life. Otherwise we are just randomly here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Is religion the same as spirituality?.....do people need spirituality?....what is spirituality? http://www.psychologytoday.com/collections/201109/do-we-need-spirituality Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest eight Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Because, however imperfectly manifest, it caters to a basic human psychological need. It's clearly such a basic need that I'm personally utterly devoid of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FallingAwake Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Well it's a pretty broad question, and I can think of many reasons, which I guess could include... tradition, parental beliefs, hope, comfort, personal encounters with some perceived "higher force", a sense of higher purpose etc. But I'd suggest that a big part of it is also that our ordinary, everyday life differs from what rational science tells us to believe. We are apparently the products of blind evolution, competing for survival of the fittest, yet we live in a society that co-operates far more than it competes, and that collectively punishes anyone who does harm to others. We are told that the universe is in a state of decay and entropy, yet a mother experiences a fetus grow into a child in her stomach, and then into a full-grown adult... in a sense, the exact opposite of entropy. If we think about our life and bodies, we are an amazing combination of trillions of cells working in a way that we are only beginning to comprehend, and yet rational science tells us that this came about through random, undirected chance. The reality of our own personal existence seems to contradict the idea of a cold, purposeless universe. (I say "seems" because I realize this could be a form of the anthropic principle. We feel we're at the centre of the universe simply by virtue of only being able to see the universe through our own eyes. Nevertheless, I can see how that can translate into Purpose and Meaning, and hence Religion.) BTW... I personally believe in God. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichB Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 I can't help noticing that the replies so far can arguably apply as equally to organised political parties as organised religion. Sadly we seem unable to abolish either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Masked Tulip Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 "All men need something greater than themselves to look up to and worship. They must be able to touch the divine - here on earth.". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sPinwheel Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 It makes us feel better. Especially when shït happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuggets Mahoney Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 It's clearly such a basic need that I'm personally utterly devoid of it. Not even a deep-down, teensy weensy bit, just a little? I'm not suggesting this apples to you but there were plenty of French and Russian revolutionaries who completely refuted the existence of the divine and proceeded to, with no sense of irony, replace it with another dogmatic belief system that ticked pretty much all of the same boxes. A lot of people, not necessarily all, and not necessarily to the same degree, lap ideology up. Dismissing it as something that's arbitrarily imposed from above on stupid people ignores the possibility that people, sometimes intelligent people, like it, want it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riedquat Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Because having made a complete and utter mess of life people desperately hope there's actually something else. If we ceased being a bunch of idiotic creatures ruining our lives by trying to make them easier, fvcking up most of what makes it worth living in the process, religion might die out, but humanity is too pathetic for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 ....best to keep an open mind, open not closed......I do wonder if people are searching for something but can't quite put their finger on what it is they are looking for......some people may have found it? ....anyway if a religion is a belief, so must atheism be a belief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riedquat Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 ....anyway if a religion is a belief, so must atheism be a belief. Nope. I've seen that argument used by the religious to attempt to equate their position with the atheists' but it's very much a false comparison. As well as ignoring the whole issue of evidence it widens the definition of "belief" to include absolutely every view, which makes the word meaningless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Nope. I've seen that argument used by the religious to attempt to equate their position with the atheists' but it's very much a false comparison. As well as ignoring the whole issue of evidence it widens the definition of "belief" to include absolutely every view, which makes the word meaningless. That is your belief and I respect that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuggets Mahoney Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Nope. I've seen that argument used by the religious to attempt to equate their position with the atheists' but it's very much a false comparison. As well as ignoring the whole issue of evidence it widens the definition of "belief" to include absolutely every view, which makes the word meaningless. Antony Flew made the distinction between negative and positive atheism. Arguably there's a distinction to made between an absence of belief in God and believing, for certain, that there is no such thing as a God. Neither of which applied to Flew when he turned a wee bit deist later in life but that's another story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccc Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Funding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oliver Sutton Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 BTW... I personally believe in God. Lucky you included that. I would never have guessed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sPinwheel Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Oh God. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riedquat Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 We are apparently the products of blind evolution, competing for survival of the fittest, yet we live in a society that co-operates far more than it competes, and that collectively punishes anyone who does harm to others.Co-operation is a very valid and successful survival strategy, there's nothing about evolution that contradicts it. "Survival of the fittest" is an oft-misunderstood phrase.We are told that the universe is in a state of decay and entropy, yet a mother experiences a fetus grow into a child in her stomach, and then into a full-grown adult... in a sense, the exact opposite of entropy.Again nothing against that in the laws of physics and it only sounds like there is if you take a soundbite of it instead of a proper look.If we think about our life and bodies, we are an amazing combination of trillions of cells working in a way that we are only beginning to comprehend, and yet rational science tells us that this came about through random, undirected chance.Don't see the problem with that.The reality of our own personal existence seems to contradict the idea of a cold, purposeless universe.I completely fail to see how. The idea of some fundamental purpose seems to run contradictory to the reality of our personal existence. The only purposes are those you chose to search for. It seems to me that the only sensible thing to do is try to lead as happy and personally rewarding life as possible, not for any greater reason but because what's the point in doing otherwise? Unfortunately I hate life, mostly due to being surrounded by people who, judging by their actions, have an idea of "happy and rewarding" that's massively at odds with mine (if they're doing it all for some other reason then they're just complete and utter fools). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limpet Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 ....best to keep an open mind, open not closed......I do wonder if people are searching for something but can't quite put their finger on what it is they are looking for......some people may have found it? ....anyway if a religion is a belief, so must atheism be a belief. Open mind b0llocks, I suppose that means open to the possibility of fairies, goblins and hobbits. Religion is purely a means of controlling people, using divide and conquer and that`s it. It would die out if people weren't allowed to commit child abuse on a daily basis in the form of religious indoctrination. I`m more of an anti-theist than an atheist and I`ve even had idiots claim that atheism is another form of religion which just shows how stupid some folk can be. Religion, after all, thrives on that stupidity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Open mind b0llocks, I suppose that means open to the possibility of fairies, goblins and hobbits. Religion is purely a means of controlling people, using divide and conquer and that`s it. It would die out if people weren't allowed to commit child abuse on a daily basis in the form of religious indoctrination. I`m more of an anti-theist than an atheist and I`ve even had idiots claim that atheism is another form of religion which just shows how stupid some folk can be. Religion, after all, thrives on that stupidity You are entitled to your opinion.....there are good and bad people in all walks of life.....we are all human after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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