Voice your opinion- Organised religion. (page 3)

Sirona

Simon,

All religion.
Imagine how much better society would be without religion? It devalues life IMHO because of the 'god will fix it' mentality and without it people would probably value life a lot more than they do.

I don't agree, Simon. Religion itself can be a belief system for one individual that enhances their life and may even help them value life more.

Organised religion is a different thing entirely. Yes, organised religion has been extremely damaging throughout history.

Belief itself is not the cause of the horrors. Human beings are the cause. Desire for power, control, and group conformity are part of human nature. We all get together in groups with a common interest (whether that is religion or something else) and we tell each other we are right and that the "other" groups are wrong. Then, we act with the group and diffuse the responsibility of those actions. The product of this is a group who behave more horrifically than most individuals would.

I consider myself to be religious, and I associate with a local group (probably once a month). It is entirely possible to be religious and to not be controlled by the group, in fact its possible to be extremely spiritual without ever meeting anyone else with similar beliefs.

Sirona

jerome

Good points

jerome

Keep the comments rolling in.

jerome

Just bringing it back to the top.

JT

Even if an organized religion is formed with good intentions, it is only a matter of time before the organization becomes greater than the members. Once this happens, the priority of the leaders shifts from the well-being of the members to the well-being of the organization.

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yes your post pretty much sums it up after all is said and done

Pepper

The Chinese ruler Mao said: religion is the opium of the people, he was right. Pepper

Sirona

And Freud said that Religion is collective delusion. Maybe he was right, since I personally believe that there is no ultimate TRUTH to be had in this world.

Sirona

** http://www.religioustolerance.org **

SPAZnik

some great points on this thread...marketing schemes, help for parents to teach their kids, a phase people go through.

i see truth in all of dat.

as for me, even when i was in the borg,
i always felt anti-religion,
and pro-spirituality.

spirituality is one part of a balanced satisfying life. it even has a scientific basis, certain parts of the brain get activated when a person in any religion or belief system thinks spiritually.

but as for organized religion
i'd say:
religion shmeligion
or is it organized schmorganized...

SPAZ

jerome

Ok so could you tell me where you seek sprituality?

DanielHaase

Pepper- It was Marx that originally stated that "Religion is the opiate of the people". But no biggie. Anyway, his point can be seen, especially when applied to JW's. The JW's are part of that apathetic 50% of the voting population that doesn't turn up to vote that ends up pissing us all off. They are waiting for Jehovah to fix all our problems; in turn those in power love it because they are dealing with a content and ignorant population. But now I'm getting off the subject. I agree with Simon; in a "utopian" world religion would serve no purpose. But that's not realistic. At this point we can at least see the problems with organized religion: corruption, manipulation (basically everything that comes with setting up a system based on a hierarchy).

Voice your opinion- Organised religion.

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