Positive impact of religions

[casie]

I'm sorry, at this point in history I feel like all religions are outdated and that the people who follow religion are "last men" as Nietzsche called them. I point to the religious war taking place in the middle east (video 1) and the murders of gays in Africa as a result of evangelism(video 2).

The main issue with religion is that it makes you believe things that are not otherwise true, and because these "facts" become dogma for people creates people who cannot reason and who will deny facts. My grandparents are baptists and they believe that dinosaur bones were put on earth to test their faith.

Sure way back in the day, Islam was beneficial to people because they had to wash their hands five times a day- therefore limiting outbreaks of disease. Now it's outdated and its believers live in the past.

Sure, prayer can be likened to meditation- in the sense that you close your eyes- but it creates this idea that people can ask favors from god, and it takes away their ability to actually see if they can improve their own situation. Sure, people feel weak sometimes but that doesn't mean they need a mental crutch.

If I sound like I am on the offense, I am. I am so incredibly angry at the Islamic extremists who are currently mercilessly shooting down Iraqis in the name of ideology.

There is no need to associate me with the disgusting human waste that those videos document. Religion does encourage you to adopt a spiritual framework and way of life, but that has nothing to do with dinosaur bones or hygiene. People often do need a spiritual/emotional/mental crutch and it is important that the people who do so are guided by institutions that look beyond selfish needs.

Would you mind detailing to us what exactly you mean by your reference to Nietzsche? I was under the impression that Nietzsche was specifically referring to the kind of Abrahamic doctrines of subsuming your will to power under an ideology of justice and a rejection of the world for the afterlife. Could be that he just didn't like it when people didn't think for themselves though, idk.

 

[BrokenDaniel]

Just to clarify my previous point. I was referring mostly to the scriptures and the values that are promoted. Either you want to regard it as the word of god or not, it's obvious that most of the ancient sacred scriptures were written in a social context pretty different from our own. The answers of how people should behave or not has changed, and this is something that Nietzsche foresaw and he was proven right given the situation of today's society.
There's nothing wrong with religion, quite the contrary, but the church today is facing it's decadence, and part of the issue is because the values they promote are outdated. There's also dogmatism and fundamentalism, and when you mix this with ancient codes of morality, it doesn't look good nor promising, it's not attractive and labeling then what "is" attractive and less restrictive as "evil, then it looks worse. Society has changed, today nobody dies if they are casted out of their niche, family, society, etc, women don't die as much giving birth as they did then, traveling is an available, affordable and relatively safe option now, it wasn't then, speed of communication... This examples are basic, and probably silly, but true nonetheless.
I'm limiting this commentary here to western society ftr.

As for spirituality... That's another subject, and no, it haves nothing to do with promoting a religion and a dogma, it's deeper, personal and real. I've known a couple of persons who are spiritual, they are in contact with themselves, wonderful people with a lot to offer, and they don't go to church as far as i know. You aren't more spiritual because you believe in god neither, that's silly. There are many options out there, and a lot of opportunities to really understand what this life is for, information, books, knowledge, cool people that really have something to teach you, which connects with my previous point of the difficulties of ancient societies, why should i restrict myself now? What's the point? Nobody is going to put me in jail because of it nobody is going to cut my tongue, nobody will burn me and point at me screaming WIIITCH!!!.

 

[Barnabas]

I'm sorry, at this point in history I feel like all religions are outdated and that the people who follow religion are "last men" as Nietzsche called them. I point to the religious war taking place in the middle east (video 1) and the murders of gays in Africa as a result of evangelism(video 2).


The main issue with religion is that it makes you believe things that are not otherwise true, and because these "facts" become dogma for people creates people who cannot reason and who will deny facts. My grandparents are baptists and they believe that dinosaur bones were put on earth to test their faith.

Sure way back in the day, Islam was beneficial to people because they had to wash their hands five times a day- therefore limiting outbreaks of disease. Now it's outdated and its believers live in the past.

Sure, prayer can be likened to meditation- in the sense that you close your eyes- but it creates this idea that people can ask favors from god, and it takes away their ability to actually see if they can improve their own situation. Sure, people feel weak sometimes but that doesn't mean they need a mental crutch.



If I sound like I am on the offense, I am. I am so incredibly angry at the Islamic extremists who are currently mercilessly shooting down Iraqis in the name of ideology.

Not to also sound confrontational but people have been saying this since before Christianity was a thing and that Religion was going to die out in the near future, some several thousand years later it's still here chugging along. I doubt religion is going anywhere anytime soon or far.