Thread: Should we believe?

Yo,

Religion has been a great pastime for us. The use of a greater deity to explain all scientific concepts was a perfect way to shut people up. However, recent technological advancements have argued against, and even contradicted, some biblical concepts.



The thing is, if religion didn't exist, we would be more advanced than we already are, and would be living in space right now. Besides technology, religion has crippled many other ideals.

My question is, is it now dangerous or disadvantageous to believe in a greater being. Is it bad to believe?

Some people waste their whole lives waiting upon a "prophecy" or even grow insane.

It's not bad to believe, It's bad to interfere with science & technology advancements. >:-(

religion has always led us, therefore, my opinion is that they should have let us lead by something not even know if it really exists or not.
me being a person who believes in facts, i start to believe that there is no one up there, because the facts tell us otherwise.
if he had any evidence that God exists would be something different.Ascultaţi
Citiţi fonetic

Here's the thing. It's very easy to dismiss religion nowadays - what with all the technological and intellectual advances that science has brought about - and believe me, I do it more often than most. But religion is just a tool for people to satisfy their needs, and in that sense, science is not too different.

I'm gonna go a little Nietzschean right now, but I think he had the right idea. What both religion and science tend to do, and the reason why they are so attractive, is they make up meaning where it's lacking - which is very comforting and which is the reason why believing is so rewarding.

Religion tells you that there is something/someone greater than you, beyond you, and that ultimately all you're doing is for a reason, even though that reason might be hidden from you. Science pretty much tells the same story, only oriented towards the more practical. Science and the knowledge it leads to ARE the things greater than you, and you can be part of it, whether or not you're a scientist. "Progress" is often quoted as the reason for practicing science. But how do you define progress? More knowledge and technology, even a higher standard of living does not translate into progress - science has been involved, at least partially, in its share of horrible crimes (just look at the first half of the XX century). And at the end of the day, the meaning that science offers (in the form of progress) is as contrived as the one put forth by religion (god or w/e).

So yeah, some people waste their whole lives running after prophecies, but other people waste their whole lives running after the Higgs Boson . It's hard to judge which is better - it really just boils down to individual choices and preferences. But as far as believing goes, we can't really live without it... Some of us believe in more sensible things (like scientific ideas) than others (like religious dogmatics), but that does not make one better than the other. One can always get carried away with a belief, as sensible as it might be - and that's when shit hits the fan.

Your point is valid, however, at least science makes progress in order to reach the truth. Religion has not moved, and stubbornly stayed at a single standpoint for centuries.

People believe in something for a reason, most of which are personal gain. They pray to their god about things they need or want in order to get a peace of mind - hence a false sense of security. Thus people become reliant on religion, and more times than not, it never provides for them. This can trigger a chain of problems.

Fox

Let people believe in what they want if it makes them feel better and give them peace of mind. It shouldn't bother anyone what anyone else believes or doesn't believe. You have your own mind to make up and can't control or tell anyone else how/what to believe in or not to believe in. Religion is not the cause of technology not advancing, people are the cause. When you say religion is to blame for technology and wars that's just ignorant and close minded of you. People are the ones who do things out of their own free will. I say live the right way and believe in a religion if you want to, as long as you are happy and don't bother or cause trouble, you should be fine.

Originally Posted by SilverStreak

Let people believe in what they want if it makes them feel better and give them peace of mind. It shouldn't bother anyone what anyone else believes or doesn't believe. You have your own mind to make up and can't control or tell anyone else how/what to believe in or not to believe in. Religion is not the cause of technology not advancing, people are the cause. When you say religion is to blame for technology and wars that's just ignorant and close minded of you. People are the ones who do things out of their own free will. I say live the right way and believe in a religion if you want to, as long as you are happy and don't bother or cause trouble, you should be fine.

I did not mean to preach, and I am sorry if I conveyed that idea. I am simply and objectively weighing the pros to the cons.

And I never said that religion is to blame for wars. I only stated that we would be further advanced in technology.

Fox

i think any kind of fanaticism is dangerous, to believe anything theat so-called messengers of God tell ,you have to be retarded, science prove hundres of times most of what they say is wrong but still are lots of anomaliest theat sciecnce can not explain and actually greater being theory still make more sence then the big bang
religion whas created to give man a purpose in life but because was written by men message got lost and today you have no idee what is true and what not
many people have dont know this but Christian religions, Muslim and Judaism talk about same God , they all talk cane from the same religion but they all have changed it after their own interests
I for example try to respect what is written in the Bible, but i have not the slightest trace of respect for church leaders and sometimes i wonder if they have read the Bible at least once because they have more bling bling than an american rapper :cursing:

Originally Posted by Zarfox_9

Your point is valid, however, at least science makes progress in order to reach the truth. Religion has not moved, and stubbornly stayed at a single standpoint for centuries.

People believe in something for a reason, most of which are personal gain. They pray to their god about things they need or want in order to get a peace of mind - hence a false sense of security. Thus people become reliant on religion, and more times than not, it never provides for them. This can trigger a chain of problems.

Fox

Fair enough. I will never disagree with you that science as a practice is more useful and beneficial than religion. To get things straight - I do science for living and am an atheist.
But I think you have a somewhat narrow idea of religion and you're being slightly unfair - all in good spirit though. Religion means a lot of different things for different people. And you're right, most religious people (at least in my experience, don't have any surveys to quote), at least to some extent practice religion the way you describe. They prey for personal reasons, but in a lot of cases, it's out of desperation rather than out of desire. And true, people might get a false sense of hope out of this - but that's not a bad thing. Better to have false hope than to be hopeless and depressed.

There are also others who practice religion in a very sensible way. They might go to church/temple/mosque, prey, but they have no illusions about what all that can do for you - they don't think that they can get ahead in life or get a new care or w/e by just praying for it. Religion can be a practice for personal growth and development, and if that's the case, I have absolutely no problem with it.

Overreliance on anything, especially on religion, is a problem and I agree that it can lead to serious issues, ranging from personal to international. But overreliance on science is equally as bad, especially when you start treating it like religion. Science is definitely not an alternative to religion - it can't directly address religious ideas, it can never prove that god exists or doesn't exist, though it can falsify at least the details of religious stories (but truth and accuracy is not really the point of those stories to begin with). So I guess what I'm trying to say is that both religion and science have their places - and though there is common ground, their primary functions are very different and should not be confused.

Spirituality in moderation is not a bad thing, even if you don't believe in god and are not a fan of religion (like me). Science is just one way of looking at the world and it's certainly not all-encompassing. You'll miss out on a lot of wonderful and amazing things if you reject anything that without scientific grounds.

Originally Posted by SilverStreak

Let people believe in what they want if it makes them feel better and give them peace of mind. It shouldn't bother anyone what anyone else believes or doesn't believe. You have your own mind to make up and can't control or tell anyone else how/what to believe in or not to believe in. Religion is not the cause of technology not advancing, people are the cause. When you say religion is to blame for technology and wars that's just ignorant and close minded of you. People are the ones who do things out of their own free will. I say live the right way and believe in a religion if you want to, as long as you are happy and don't bother or cause trouble, you should be fine.

You make a good point - we should let people do and believe what they want. Freedom is a great thing, but it also can't go unchecked, since there are inevitably going to be conflicts between beliefs and desires of different people. And you're also right that people are the ones who put restrictions on technological advances (not always a bad thing) and start wars, etc. However, I don't think you can separate people from religion or think that people's wills, as free as they might be, are not affected by things like religion or science.

For example, stem cell research, which has potential for enormous advances in medicine, has been very restrained in the US. True, it was few hundred people in the government who actually put up the restraints, but it was some religious ideas that a lot of voters were very fond of that influenced the decision of the people in the government.

At the end of the day I think education is really the best solution. Equip people with the tools they need to think for themselves, form their own belief or at least know what what they're getting themselves into.