The Purpose Of Religion

[MaggieMae]

A few points to consider:

 

1.Almost every documented human civilization has/had some form of a religion

2.Almost every documented religion has some form of an “afterlife.”

3.These traits are not only universal, but span all of human history.

 

Considering these, I think the fundamental point of religion is to avoid death. Death is a huge unknowable frontier. Our brains can't even comprehend not existing. Consciousness is too self-aware to understand true nothingness. Not existing is a really scary thought, if only because we simply cannot comprehend it. The Unknown is shaky, unreliable ground....but religion gives you a way out of it!

 

My mother is a nurse in a cancer facility. She has noted that people who have faith are usually much stronger in the face of death and/or adversity. This is because religion completely removes not only the fear of the unknown....it removes the unknown altogether! You're not just dying...you're going to a jeweled house with golden roads and fantabulous fruit trees! Don't worry about what's wrong with you now....God will give you a perfect body and a splendid white robe and you'll sing happy songs forever! The bible gives so many specifics about what happens after you die because THAT'S WHAT PEOPLE CARE ABOUT. Christians spend their whole lives trying to do everything they can to makes sure they get into Heaven, because it's a Safe Zone. They need that comfort, that solace, that “factual” assurance.

 

Not existing is a scary thing, so I understand why people cling to those beliefs so ardently. However, there is simply no way to know what happens. Maybe there's a Heaven and Hell. Maybe there's Nirvana or a Valhalla. Maybe our soul drifts apart on the breeze and enters the Cosmic Ether. No one can know! So therefore, I refuse to spend my time worrying, being afraid, or trying to avoid it.

 

When you really get down to it, Christians spend their whole lives getting ready to die; I want to spend my life living!

[Antlerman]

Our brains can't even comprehend not existing. Consciousness is too self-aware to understand true nothingness. Not existing is a really scary thought, if only because we simply cannot comprehend it. The Unknown is shaky, unreliable ground....but religion gives you a way out of it!

Another way to put it, we can't comprehend meaninglessness. Nothingness has no meaning. It's that which people fear more than the event of death itself.

 

In fact life itself can be seen as meaningless as part of this ultimate nothingness beyond our own death and the death of everything else. It's in the face of this looming over all of us that everyone tries to apply meaning or significance to all of it. This is where philosophy comes in, this is where religion comes in also. How to live our lives giving us a sense of meaning in a life aware of the meaninglessness of it. How effective that is, is another matter.

 

My mother is a nurse in a cancer facility. She has noted that people who have faith are usually much stronger in the face of death and/or adversity.

Personally I'd argue this point. It sounds perhaps to be a case of confirmation bias.

 

This is because religion completely removes not only the fear of the unknown....it removes the unknown altogether!

I actually don't believe does remove the fear of the unknown. Most of the religious folks who are the strongest in their religion, are so because they don't have faith. They aren't at peace with death or life either because they are escaping facing the reality of both by becoming the image of something of someone else, the religious ideal of others, as opposed to being themselves. If they were at peace, they wouldn't need to cloak themselves with religion.

 

When you really get down to it, Christians spend their whole lives getting ready to die; I want to spend my life living!

Now that's a philosophy I can live by.

[Vomit Comet]

It's basically stone age thinking that carried over into the bronze age. (Or the copper age, if you want to mention the neolithic interim.) But just because bronze age religions were more elaborate in literary and practical structure doesn't mean that its core substance wasn't essentially the same old caveman shit.

 

Also, the Chinese weren't so sure about the afterlife. In European alchemy, the search was for ways to create gold out of non-gold substances. In Chinese alchemy, it was to create the elixir of eternal life, because nobody was really so sure how that would play out, so they wanted to stick around for the earthly life. Well, such elixirs probably spelled the premature death of several historically important emperors, ironically enough. Also, the Egyptians and Greeks -- at least the upper classes, I should say -- tended towards hedonism because the afterlife was either uncertain or kind of crappy.

[MaggieMae]

It's basically stone age thinking that carried over into the bronze age. (Or the copper age, if you want to mention the neolithic interim.) But just because bronze age religions were more elaborate in literary and practical structure doesn't mean that its core substance wasn't essentially the same old caveman shit.

 

 

True, but most ancient religions had the same purpose; explaining the unexplainable. They didn't know what caused thunderstorms, so it must be an angry god! Natural occurrences were at that time an unknown to be feared, so they inserted a spiritual undertone to help explain things. It also gave them a certain amount of control; "If I sacrifice to this god, then my hunting will be successful."

 

"Cavemen" don't really have much documented religious leanings, but as soon as civilizations crop up, so do religions. And with most religions, there is some form of an afterlife. The idea of a continued consciousness is fairly universal, even if it's a crappy sort of "sit in a dark underworld for eternity."

[MaggieMae]

Our brains can't even comprehend not existing. Consciousness is too self-aware to understand true nothingness. Not existing is a really scary thought, if only because we simply cannot comprehend it. The Unknown is shaky, unreliable ground....but religion gives you a way out of it!

Another way to put it, we can't comprehend meaninglessness. Nothingness has no meaning. It's that which people fear more than the event of death itself.

 

In fact life itself can be seen as meaningless as part of this ultimate nothingness beyond our own death and the death of everything else. It's in the face of this looming over all of us that everyone tries to apply meaning or significance to all of it. This is where philosophy comes in, this is where religion comes in also. How to live our lives giving us a sense of meaning in a life aware of the meaninglessness of it. How effective that is, is another matter.

 

 

Agreed! That was mostly my point, even if I said it somewhat confusingly.

Personally, I believe that not having a god gives life more meaning than having one! I mean, I would rather spend my life enjoying myself, appreciating the world around me, and passing on a wonderful legacy to the next generation. To me, that is far better than having my one and only purpose be to worship some dude in the sky.

 

 

 

"I actually don't believe does remove the fear of the unknown. Most of the religious folks who are the strongest in their religion, are so because they don't have faith. They aren't at peace with death or life either because they are escaping facing the reality of both by becoming the image of something of someone else, the religious ideal of others, as opposed to being themselves. If they were at peace, they wouldn't need to cloak themselves with religion." ~ Antlerman

 

 

I'm not sure about that. I've personally witnessed people very strong in their faith and religion be perfectly at peace with their fate. This point is probably eternally debatable, since I was speaking in generalities. It really does depend on the person! I simply think that religion gives you a form of control over your death, because you are supplied with answers about the unknowable. Even if everyone has a degree of fear remaining, I imagine that it's very comforting for many people to have that foundation to cling to.

 

 

 

 

edit: wow, I really need to learn how to split up quotes!

[Legion]

Oh I don’t know. I’ve heard some say that the purpose of religion is to keep the ego in check and make cohesive social life more probable.

 

But then I suspect that religion may serve multiple functions. I certainly agree that one function is probably denial.