What is the purpose of religion?

[Andrii]

Ok, I was just wondering what people consider to be the purpose of religion, of choosing a particular religion. It seems to me that, at times, religion stops being about unity and trying to be a good/moral person who respects those around him and does the exact opposite- it creates divide and conflict.

Why do people place such an emphasis on the prophet who brought about 'the word of God' or who established a certain religion? I'm not saying we shouldn't follow a particular religion, but why don't we place more emphasis on the fundamental values of that religion (which, funnily enough, seem to be similar if not identical in most religions). What I mean is that when people go to war over religion or dismiss another religion and claim that it is wrong (e.g. Christians & Muslims - just an example) what they seem to argue about is who the true prophet is!! Not true religion- but prophet! Surely the values that make up a religion are more important.

What are your opinions on this?

& Sorry that this is not worded very well & is probably a bit confusing!!! (it's kind of hard to put into words!!)
Feel free to ask any questions for me to clarify it further!!

[Nilloc James]

I think religion was created to understand two key questions:

Why we're here and where we're going.

[nukewaste]

I get it.

Whata people are worried about, at the fundamental level, is the source of their information. They need to be validated that their 'guy with the answers' is the right one, regardless of who it may be (Moses, Jesus, Muhammed, Kirshna, Buddha). In many ways, they're more important than the deity, because people can relate to the prophets; they're human, after all. You can't put yourself in the shoes of the unknowable, or quantify the incomprehensible mind of a supreme being, and so it's a little less approachable. People don't like things they can't directly relate to, makes them nervous.

HOWEVER, they CAN point to some random guy and say, "Do what he tells you to do," or, "Act like he does," as a fulfillment of the answers they crave. It's a role model, or, in another sense, it's a hero. People do a lot of stupid, irrational things over hero worship, and many people get extremely defensive if their role model is put under attack, even if it is only a percieved attack.

I think that most people know that the tenets of the various religions, when you boil them down, are similar. They just don't want to accept that their role model is the wrong one.

[theAtheistofnoIllusions]

You seem to know a very great deal about the Christian point of view, you treat it more sympathetically (like here) than atheists commonly do

I was raised in a Christian family with Christian friends and I even went to a Christian school. I know Christianity in and out, up and down, left and right. I've questioned Christianity more times than I can count (curious little me, I was so cute) and the answers I received convinced me that of all the Theistic religions, Christianity is the most likely to be true, and the most logical. If a god exists, I believe the Christians have the most (emphasis on most) perfect view of what it would be. There are some minor flaws in their logic, but most arise from a misunderstanding of the text in question. Unlike the anti-theists, who are actually Theists in denial, I have no beef with religion, or Christianity.

very few actual atheists misspell the word.

A spelling mistake is proof that I am not an atheist? And what of all the other, probably close to three hundred, times that I have spelled the word correctly? Was I an atheist then and a Christian posing as an atheist now that I have misspelled it? So if I had spelled Chrisitan wrong, does that prove that I am no Christian?

I have suspected for some time that you are not in fact an atheist

You and plenty of other self-proclaimed atheists. I've noticed that those who are repulsed by my beliefs often try this line of attack, and to be honest it shocked me at first. But I believe it is not so much an actual attack, as a rejection of the truth of one's belief. Atheists, or rather: Anti-Theists, have some problem with a religion or religious, and so they take a philosophy that they believe is a rejection of the religion. You see teenagers do it every day. Anyway, these theists in denial are still believers, so they use the language of the believers to attack the belief. They speak of the "evils of religion", ignoring the truth that it is only the religious who are concerned with "good" or "evil". They claim moral superiority, ignoring the truth that a rejection of a moral authority is a rejection of morals themselves.

Indeed I have found more friends in the Christian population than the Atheist population. This is why I refer to myself, sometimes, as The Atheist. I have yet to meet another who rejects a divine being and ALL that goes with it. Most atheists seem to be trying to have their cake and eat it to.

Believe what you will. I know that you are no Atheist, whatever you may claim.

[cnorman18]

You seem to know a very great deal about the Christian point of view, you treat it more sympathetically (like here) than atheists commonly do

I was raised in a Christian family with Christian friends and I even went to a Christian school. I know Christianity in and out, up and down, left and right. I've questioned Christianity more times than I can count (curious little me, I was so cute) and the answers I received convinced me that of all the Theistic religions, Christianity is the most likely to be true, and the most logical. If a god exists, I believe the Christians have the most (emphasis on most) perfect view of what it would be. There are some minor flaws in their logic, but most arise from a misunderstanding of the text in question. Unlike the anti-theists, who are actually Theists in denial, I have no beef with religion, or Christianity.

very few actual atheists misspell the word.

A spelling mistake is proof that I am not an atheist? And what of all the other, probably close to three hundred, times that I have spelled the word correctly? Was I an atheist then and a Christian posing as an atheist now that I have misspelled it? So if I had spelled Chrisitan wrong, does that prove that I am no Christian?

I have suspected for some time that you are not in fact an atheist

You and plenty of other self-proclaimed atheists. I've noticed that those who are repulsed by my beliefs often try this line of attack, and to be honest it shocked me at first. But I believe it is not so much an actual attack, as a rejection of the truth of one's belief. Atheists, or rather: Anti-Theists, have some problem with a religion or religious, and so they take a philosophy that they believe is a rejection of the religion. You see teenagers do it every day. Anyway, these theists in denial are still believers, so they use the language of the believers to attack the belief. They speak of the "evils of religion", ignoring the truth that it is only the religious who are concerned with "good" or "evil". They claim moral superiority, ignoring the truth that a rejection of a moral authority is a rejection of morals themselves.

Indeed I have found more friends in the Christian population than the Atheist population. This is why I refer to myself, sometimes, as The Atheist. I have yet to meet another who rejects a divine being and ALL that goes with it. Most atheists seem to be trying to have their cake and eat it to.

Believe what you will. I know that you are no Atheist, whatever you may claim.

Just for the record, I am not an atheist; I am a Jew.

You deleted my first point, that you seem to embody the fantasies and stereotypes of atheism believed in by many Christians; that's very strange. Plus, you just stated another common fundamentalist fantasy, that atheists are just theists in denial.

I've never even heard of another atheist who speaks of Christianity in the glowing terms that you have here. As far as I'm concerned, you are very clearly a Christian pretending to be an atheist, and you've done nothing here but reinforce that idea.

If I'm right, that's a pretty serious violation of Christian ethics. Bearing false witness and all that, y'know.

[theAtheistofnoIllusions]

Anti-Theists, not atheists, Anti-Theists, it is the Anti-Theists who display the traits I spoke of. You misrepresent me and accuse me of lying? Wow. And coming from a theist no less. Tell me, did the Jews recently stop following the Ten Commandments? I believe bearing false witness was considered a sin by your god long before Jesus ever walked the desert.

You've never met an atheist like me, I get that a lot. Okay, what have I said that convinces you I am not an atheist? Because I don't believe in right and wrong? Many atheists reject the idea of right and wrong, and those that don't can never justify their position. Because I happen to have a sympathy for the Christian religion? I was raised a Catholic, went to church every sunday for many years, most of my family remains Christian to this day. Also, Christianity makes a certain amount of logical sense (no doubt a vestige of my upbringing) to me. Its final flaw is that there is no clear objective evidence to convince me of its truth.

As I said, believe what you will.

[NonSum]

Questions concerning the orthodoxy of someone's atheism borders on the absurd.

Ok, I was just wondering what people consider to be the purpose of religion,

The "purpose" of religion is whatever use(s) any given individual wishes to make of it. For most, I would say, 'psychological comfort.' But that too can come in a variety of psychological needs.

My own atheistic purpose in studying the world's religions is philosophical. All major religions have a philosophical content that far exceeds any simplistic 'daddy in the sky,' Sunday School doctrine. IOW, there are some real gems of wisdom laying about in the muck of myth, if one takes the trouble to sift them out. As Jesus put it: "for those who have ears to hear." All genuine seekers of wisdom must be serious sifters. And, that goes for western academic philosophy, or day to day life, as well as religion.

Any philosophic (i.e. 'wisdom loving') atheist will discover their time well spent examining the world's religions. And, shouldn't be surprised to find large rich veins of atheistic teaching in all of the world's major religious writings. Perhaps, that is the greatest purpose for religion's existence, i.e. to serve as a depository of advanced metaphysical insight.

"Christians who follow and obey the incarnate Logos itself, and who denounce the false gods, are termed 'atheists'." (St. Justin Martyr)