Does organised religion have a useful social function?

Yeah, sure. Why not.

 

I think it absolutely does. If you think of rallying together with the same spirituality it generates a significant emotional response. I think it's tremendously powerful.


EDIT: I think I just answered without reading the full question though. I saw something about atheism in there, agnosticism... I don't know.

Also, there seems to be a missing word in the thread's title!

 

it should be "does organized have a useful social function, bitch?"

but, i think most thread titles would be better if they ended with "comma bitch".

 

The missing word is "religion".

 

I'm not sure why one would want to live a fake life or fake their beliefs due to their life being in disarray. A sense of community might benefit someone in such circumstances but there are all kinds of activity groups now that can probably fill that void.

Probably depends where you live but around here you'll more often than not see homeless and vagrants saying "Praise Jesus" type stuff, so I think you would just have to look at something like that to figure out turning to religion doesn't guarantee anything.

 

I don't believe religion serves a useful purpose.

 

Many years ago I was manager at a Ford Dealership. A new salesman, Bill, heard that I was an atheist. Bill, at an opportune moment, asked if it were true and I told him it was. His response was something like this;
"Then why, if you see a nice looking woman who turns you on, don't you just rape her? And why, if you need money, don't you just steal it?"
You know, that showed me the value of religion and I was sure glad that Bill had it.

 

Don't be like Bill. Bill is a fuckwit.

 

The Christians I know aren't very Christian at all. I'm not sure why they turn to God. They seem to revel in the idea that there's a Hell where those who haven't accepted Jesus will be tormented forever. I do believe they'd be even more unbearable without religion, though. Religion fills a void others occupy with original thought.

 

I've known a lot of religious probe through the years who lived lives that were in significant disarray, and in which those people weren't thriving. I don't think god-belief matters a whole lot.

 

I think fixing a messed up life is more in the domain of psychologists, counsellors, and dare I say, "life coaches." It's not religion's purpose

 

Yes. Yes, it is...

 

It has, and not solely for the less sophisticated or those who derive their morals from their religion. The purpose/usefullness is more obvious when we look at the past, which almost makes me say organized religion was more useful in the past. But that's obviously an observation from an agnost, atheist or a theist who has no use for organised religion. If we look how it's thriving in certain areas of the world and how certain religious folks regularly utter the conviction its more important than ever, we can conclude it does has use, wether we like or agree with that or not.

 

'Shame and guilt' is the organizer . Abolish punishment and see what happens . Light is required .

 

I spend a lot of my time in organized religion, cuz I think it serves useful functions. My Sunday School classes and Bible study provide vehicles for discussions about ultimate meaning. The churches also engage in organized altruism. And they provide my main social outlets--e.g., our church Superbowl party last Sunday.

 

I've heard that before too. Say something like, so if you thought your god didn't exist you'd be out raping and stealing? What kind of person are you?

 

Clearly they aren't from the monkey world where monkeys murder and rape monkeys.