PLAYER57832 wrote:AAFitz wrote:PLAYER57832 wrote:The problem with saying its beneficial is that the converse is not true. In truth ALL societies, failures and successes, have religious beliefs.
In truth, it is likely there is something fundamental to humanity that need religion, just as we seem to need government.
Within religions, what you say is somewhat true.
To say we need religion, simply because we have religion, is like saying Russia needed communism, or Germany needed Hitler simply because they had them. Need often has little to do with what one has, it is far more often determined by what they can get, which is almost always determined, by some sort of power.
No, you are being far, far too narrow.
I am saying that every culture, every nation on Earth has
some form of governance... also some form of religious belief. If you expand that to atheism, in essence a kind of "non belief" in this context, it is axiomatic that people have religion, because any strong belief is really religion.
However, even if you narrow that to a belief in a diety or "system of being" (Scientiology, for example, Buddhism perhaps), it covers all.
Perhaps religion is something people will "outgrow" as some modern individuals insist. However, I suspect that while some people will take that direction, many others will not. At any rate, that is simply a matter of opinion. The fact is that religion has been a factor in every human society in existance and continues to be a major force.
There is honestly nothing I disagree with here, perse...its all a generally reasonable point of view. Except that I contend, most religions are in existence because of wielded power to some degree.
However, while many societies and cultures do have religions, it does not necessarily mean that those people in them, actually are believers. And by believers, I mean real believers, not just followers of the pack...of which, there is no doubt many.
It is true that every group does have governance, and its no doubt tied to our instinct of hierarchy, which is evident in every single group of social animals on the planet....well... except maybe some fish and some smaller animals ( I cant picture the sardines having an alpha sardine, but I suppose its possible.
And as far as religions go, as I said, it does make things easier. It answers a lot of questions so your brain can focus on what it wants to do, which is generally keep itself alive, and have some fun doing it.
As far as religion fading out over time, that will be a possibility, but that possibility, most likely depends upon whether there Truly is a God or not. I doubt highly that any God that gave us religion in the first place, would let it go away completely...though it is very possible, that that could indeed be the very goal of any true God... to let his creation run with the ball, so He can move onto the next project.
However, if there is no God, it is very possible that eventually religion will die out, but I suspect not completely for everyone. There is no doubt there will always be a place for it, for some people, perhaps even a great majority. One possible change to that, would be the discovery of other life forms, who simply have not heard of this God, or...who decide they are God, play God, and take us over. I suspect that if 50 ships came and took us over from another planet, and our God was nowhere to be found....this might jump the boundaries of the bible, and most peoples faith, and prove, perhaps as much as possible to most that there is no actual God to watch out for our souls.
I also have no doubt, it would simultaneously just spark more, and different religions.
I suspect if there is no God, and an alien force jumps from planet to planet, wiping out civilizations that believe in God...they probably dont believe in him too much. Though, they may just decide their God is the real one, and we deserve to be punnished for worshiping Jesus and not eouilmer weojuv9982q9 lkjwero, instead.
Its happened before.