Religion - some use?

I am not one for organised religion but I believe in God. My question to atheists is does organised religion have any social value?

 

I would say spirituality has social value, but organised religion does not, although I guess it really depends on how you define 'social value'.

 

to encourage people to want to avoid screwing everything up for each other.
a purpose often defeated however, by encouraging, even demanding, people lie to themselves about how and why they do so. and thus loose sight of how to avoid doing so.

 

I don't have any use for organized religion myself. Your question isn't addressed to me since I don't label myself as an atheist ... but I do think that organized religion does have social value for people who need the community of like minded persons.
A question occurs to me. Do people who like to think of themselves as atheists have the need for a feeling of community among themselves? I'm inclined to think they might.

 

I don't think religion has any positive value. I tend to think of religion as a tumor on society.

 

For some people, organized religion provides structure for their lives: a set of answers to life's questions, group support and reinforcement of common beliefs and values, and channeling of charitable impulses. Martin Luther King's religion helped in winning civil rights. Christians were also active in the abolition of slavery. Catholic charities help the poor; Catholic hospitals heal the sick. Physicist Freeman Dyson says: "My own prejudice, looking at religion from the inside, leads me to conclude that the good vastly outweighs the evil. In many places i the United States, with widening gaps between rich and poor, churches and synagogues are almost the only institutions that bind people together into communities." But religion can be a mind-crippling disease. I asked an atheist last night how he became an atheist. He was from a rural Oklahoma background where atheism is unusual. He told me about his childhood, raised in the Nazarene Church--a kind of Christian Taliban with no dancing, no movies, constant threats of hell fire and damnation. Yes, atheism can be useful, too.

 

Good time to show others your new duds.

 

I was listening to Alain de Botton who is a self-proclaimed atheist with Jewish heritage who made the point that formal social occasions such weddings and bar mitzvahs provide an opportunity for people to meet each others.

 

Faith is certainly not a prerequisite for social gatherings.

 

Why would you put this question to atheists??

 

Wether I believe in God or not does not matter I think. If I look objective on the past and some present situations it still has some use it seems. That it causes problems as well does not necessarily take away from that.

 

Seems like you are answering a question with a question. To answer your question, I like to consider al possibilities. There is too much tunnel vision thinking in mainstream society.

 

If you like to consider all possibilities you should ask everyone, not just atheists .... they don't care much for religion anyways.

If a religion has social value can only be determined theoretically.

 

LOL. This is true. ;p

I am not an atheist... more of a transcendentalist and/or pluralist...

I think religion serves a purpose. I think organized religions set the standards for social regulations/laws. They all have the same basic concepts, do good (charity) and you will be rewarded; do bad (murder, steal, lie, etc) and there will be consequences.

Also, from studies that have been done, those who have religious beliefs have a lower level of stress and longer lives. Kinda makes me wish I had a structured religion to follow!!

But, yes, it does have negatives as well. Example: I am in the middle of the Bible Belt. I have no idea what kind of damage has been done from having grandparents and parents telling me I am going to hell. Constantly being witnessed to. Ugh. Would be easier to follow everyone else and not question things... but thats not my nature.

Also, the extremists who warp religion to benefit their own wants. Its disgusting.

But, overall, I say it is beneficial.

 

I think the only valuable thing about organized religion is the emphasis on the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Ironically, this is as meaningful to atheists as it is to believers.

Is it a good thing to have incorrect beliefs that make you feel better? Some people think so, but I don't.

 

Where do people get this idea that "all religions say the same things"? I've read a few holy books and they often are saying very different, if not mutually exclusive things. And the supposedly good things to be derived from holy books are very often not central to the major tenets of that faith. The bible, for example, makes it clear that who you accept as your savior is much more important than how you treat people.

It is also clear that the moral tenets of Judaism were meant to apply only to other Jews. Murdering the women and children of rival clans was okay, if not outright commanded, as well taking slaves so long as they weren't Hebrews.

The fact of the matter is that morality evolved long before organized religion, and that most people today hold themselves and their neighbors to a much higher moral standard than that found in holy books. The idea that the so called Golden Rule is essentially a religious idea, is essentially a foolish idea. I certainly never needed a divine command to treat people well, my capacity for reason sufficed, and I doubt that I am really so superior to other people that I can arrive at this conclusion on my own but they can't.

Most Christians would never commit the acts commanded by Yahweh and this proves that their moral senses are not derived from their holy books. The same is true of Jews and Muslims. The problem with religion is that through religion all actions are permissible. It takes voices from heaven to get a parent to take their child and throw them onto the wood pile in preparation of sacrifice. Morality advances in spite of religion, not because of it.

 

So why do you focus alone on the abrahamic religions again when you yourself stated that all religions say different things? Perhaps other religions connect differently to morality. I think even christian and muslim religions have use (they certainly had in the past), perhaps not to you or me but that doesn't mean much at all.

 

My purpose was to demonstrate that even religions that are allegedly based around the same deity say very different things. The implication is: How much more so must that assertion be true for religions based on different deities, or even based on no deity at all?

Also I saw no need to point out that Buddha wouldn't care if you accepted Jesus as your savior, and that Hindus would not agree that there is no god but Allah. You can continue the list for as many religions as you care to study.

 

In my view No. Humanity has lost 250,000,000 people over the foolishness called Christianity alone. The present day religions are control methods for governments, and tools for the greedy to gain more power. We as a species would be much better off with them gone.

 

Interesting number. Care to elaborate? Should we abolish organized religion as a whole because it is abused by some? I would say of course not.