is religion really necessary for us ?
By aara55
@aara55 (15)
United States
July 18, 2007 3:59pm CST
All around us we see and hear of terrorism, violence , innocents killed, productivity and progress lost - basically all this is so sad, when you realise that we can do so much with peace. Most of our wars and violence today have to do with religion in some manner. This makes me think-Is religion really helping us to be better human beings? Is everyone who claims to be religious a good human being? Or what we need today is less religion and more ethics and value systems?
4 responses
@Amstardam (1348)
• United States
18 Jul 07
Well, ethics and value systems are based on culture and culture is usually based on religion as well. I think religions need to be more tolerate of each other. If we take religion out of society I think we'll be left with a mess. Religion doesn't make people hate each other, people hate each other for various reasons. Some religions are more tolerant of others and that's great. But it's the people in the religions that have the problems...there are "extremists" in every religion and they are the ones that are doing most the damamge.
3 people like this
@Amstardam (1348)
• United States
18 Jul 07
Thanks for your best response!
Yeah, I agree. I think people can get so caught up in being religious that they forget that they are human and so is everyone else. :)
1 person likes this
@aara55 (15)
• United States
18 Jul 07
I do agree with a lot of what you have said- I come from a very traditional conservative family myself , and never questioned the relevance of religion-just accepted it as part of your life. However of late I have started thinking more about it, and I find that so many people who really"follow" religion and its rituals fail so miserably in matters of human and humane behavior. That disillusions me a lot
@pendragon (3348)
• United States
18 Jul 07
Some people need a way to live close to their God, but I believe religion is much abused for the gain of earthly power and ego.The phrase "if there were no God, we would have to create one" comes to mind.Organized religion is a man-made thing, and therefore tainted.I don't know how we'd have one otherwise,how would we recognize the gift of community through God when we cannot even recognize God in eachother.we are missing the keys to that gate.
2 people like this
@Amstardam (1348)
• United States
18 Jul 07
I think that's a great statement, "how would we recognize the gift of community through God when we cannot even recognize God in each other." Changing ourselves is what needs to take place.
3 people like this
@aara55 (15)
• United States
19 Jul 07
Those are interesting thoughts indeed. The problem with religion is that we seem to both need and not need it. While religion does provide a framework for society and community, it is also a fact that many aspects of religion were originally created by and for a far less evolved society and cannot be applied in today's context. Religions have to upgrade constantly, like software.
1 person likes this
@wackeytiger (424)
• United States
19 Jul 07
It's a very good point you bring up. A lot of violence these days is all thanks to religion. In my opinion, people just need to respect all religions. People shouldn't push their own religion on other people even if they truly believe theirs is better. Let people believe what they want to believe. Besides, all these old texts have been translated so much, that whose to say what's accurate and whats not? Rulers of various different countries centuries ago changed the texts in order to control their people so you can't believe everything you read anyways.
@aara55 (15)
• United States
19 Jul 07
That is very true. Many aspects of religions were created by people who were far less evolved and therefore have lost their relevance. Those aspects that are still relevant today are those that relate to values , ethics and are more spiritual than religious. These could form the basis for a new definition of religion.
