Is religion really that bad of a thing?

I used to be a a theist. Now I have no need nor desire to return to a thiestic worldview whatsoever.

At times though, I do reflect upon how religion, albiet a different animal when it comes to matters of logic and rationality, still had a practicality about it in the way it helps people to cope and enable an easier life for those who find a venue through religion.


In numerous cases, becoming better people for it wither deluded or not.

Personally I try to approach my worldview in a sterile neutral manner, which may come across as indifferent and crass time to time. Although my opinions on various religions lie across the spectrum of high praise to utter contempt in dealing with nuances of various faiths and practices, I do find I would likely miss the " flavor" that various religions bring to the world should they ever dissipate away in my lifetime.

While Im not impressed by encroachment and impediments, I do find aspects of religion to be not all that bad and harmful. The only issues are those that deal with quality of life and living for those who don't share the same view of the religious.

So, Im a bit conflicted in determining if religion is actually worthwhile for humanity as a whole? or is it the absence of religion that would contribute to the betterment of everyone?

I tend to take a moderate view. Criticizing and complementing all around, I wouldnt want it to disappear entirely. It seems par for course to me.

I don't think there's any real danger of religion disappearing -- some sort of impetus to religiosity seems rooted in our genes.

Having said that, I tend to think of religions as two-edge swords. They're facilitators, enablers. Sometimes they enable great good, sometimes they enable great evil. We will most likely never get rid of religions, but perhaps we can do a lot to make them much more often facilitate good than facilitate evil. Several religions seem headed in that direction anyway.

You and I seem to disagree on one thing: I don't share your belief that religion does much to improve people. At least, not overall. Instead, they are relatively much better at providing people with an illusion of self-improvement. In a trivial way, they are much like so many self-help books. And yet, it might be the case that some religions tend to improve people a bit more than other religions. But if so, I still don't think religions in general do that much to improve people, even despite a bit of variation between them in that regard.

As per another thread, What do you mean by 'religion'?

I am hesitant to respond with a simple yes/no answer to something that encompasses a broad range of religions that vary wildly from one another across the spectrum.

I do however think that in general they do more harm in this world than good through distorting honest, authentic and real world considerations with old, stiff convoluted theology that isnt necessary.

Clearly i qualify this by pointing out some religions will be far worse than others in their effect on the world. Jainism for example is truly a religion of peace, and a very good worldview in minimising violence. Just imagine if we all acted in such a way and offered such respect to all living creatures. Other religions like Islam have an unfortunate association with much violence, intolerance and chauvinism. It is in my opinion much more harmful a religion than for example Jainism.

Some good comes from religion however, if not so much in their moral content we can at least enjoy the art, literature and architecture that has come as a result, as exemplified in the Christian tradition across Europe.

I don't believe religion to a bad thing at all, in fact, I believe it to be a rather good thing. Some people may use the name of religion to do bad things, but that isn't the fault of the religion; most people with religion are really just living their lives. The loudest and the most violent get all the attention but they are in the minority.

I think religions bear some blame for when people use them to bad ends. In a sense, they are like dynamite. Dynamite and religions can both be viewed as facilitators. And sometimes they make easy or possible greater evil than would otherwise be easy or possible.

Of course, dynamite and religions also at times make easy or possible greater good than would otherwise be easy or possible.

Blaming religions for anything is like blaming your feet for walking or your car for driving. It doesn't do anything by itself.

ChristineES said:

Blaming religions for anything is like blaming your feet for walking or your car for driving. It doesn't do anything by itself.

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Religions do promote bad things. Remember "spare the rod, spoil the child" and Jesus's instructions to abandon one's family? Further, religions seem to be particularly fertile breeding grounds for bigotries. Religious notions of purity lead to very noxious customs.

ChristineES said:

Blaming religions for anything is like blaming your feet for walking or your car for driving. It doesn't do anything by itself.

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It does not need to do anything by itself. That's not the point. A screwdriver doesn't do anything by itself. But just try to use your bare fingers to drive screws -- anyone with a driver will outpace you. A religion might not do anything by itself, but much more of certain kinds of things -- for good or ill -- can be done with one than without one.

I'm a bit curious as to what you mean by "theistic worldview," Nowhere Man, because this means dramatically different things to different people. To me, a theistic worldview means seeing sacredness in all things, magic in what others call mundane, and being humbled by the awe-inspiring beauty all around me. I imagine it must mean something very different to you, however, but maybe not? There are some people that de-sacrilize everything, though this is personally very hard for me to imagine.

Religion is a question aside from theism, as there are non-theistic religions. Regardless of that, I don't find it at all useful to ask if religion is "worthwhile." Religion is, and it always will be. Humans - barring some major evolutionary divergence in our cognitive capabilities - will always be asking life's big questions and organizing that into a system of values, stories, and rituals. Always. And every cognizant human on the planet does this, even if they don't call the system they come up with their religion.

It depends on the religion and even the denomination. then interpretation/

In my view religion can be exploited for ill but in it's origin religion as a revelation it can also contain truth and an energy to transform society for the better...

Civilizations have been linked with the transformative power of religion.

Religion itself isn't a bad thing. It's certain forms of religion that are bad.

saint_frankenstein said:

Religion itself isn't a bad thing. It's certain forms of religion that are bad.

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What makes certain forms of religion bad? Just curious as to your thinking.

I’ve always been relatively cynical of religion, namely the institutions of the Judaeo-Christian tradition. To me its not religion that is exploited, but rather it is itself an exploitation of the people.

Sunstone said:

What makes certain forms of religion bad? Just curious as to your thinking.

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1. Claims of exclusivity, such as claiming to have the "truth".

2. An "us vs. them" attitude towards the wider world, or other groups and individuals. In extreme cases, this can lead to isolation of members such as in certain negative brain-washing cults.

3. Promoting a feeling of shame and guilt towards natural human tendencies or simply being a human as we are now, instead of taking a more pragmatic view or promoting a positive view of the human being as is.

4. Promotion of fear and literal apocalypticism. This breeds paranoia and mistrust.

5. Shaming of questioning.

6. Enforced hegemony and prescribed roles and behaviors that stifle democratic processes and human diversity.

7. A black and white view of "good" and "evil", fracturing the earthly and cosmic realms into two necessarily opposing "sides".

Suffice it to say, I'm not a fan of organized religion at all.

Nobody wants to be judged based on someone else's experiences that have defined the term religion for them.

My brother the atheist judges me based on all his encounters with certain evangelicals. For example, he's wary about me preaching at him, yet Hindus don't preach. He knows absolutely zilch about my religion, but the very fact he knows I'm religious in some sense gets his dander all up and he wants to have some debate. So for him, based on his experiences, all religion is bad. He looks at the forest, not the tree.

With the term 'religion' we encounter that. Some people just make too many generalisations. I have way more in common with him than with the people he has encountered.

Not all religion is bad. Nor is all religion good. It's not black and white like that. It's all grey.

"Is religion really that bad of a thing?"

Could it be worse?

Nowhere Man said:

So, Im a bit conflicted in determining if religion is actually worthwhile for humanity as a whole? or is it the absence of religion that would contribute to the betterment of everyone?

I tend to take a moderate view. Criticizing and complementing all around, I wouldnt want it to disappear entirely. It seems par for course to me.

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You know, If you had of asked this a few weeks ago I would have said 'No, of course not'

Now though..
I'm definitely on the fence. On one hand, I think people and not religion are responsible for their actions.
But on the other hand, I look at how religion can overpower much. One religion in particular strikes fear in my heart, That if it were ever in power, Would send the world back into the Dark ages.

So I'm a definite... maybe. Then again, I don't ever see religion being wiped out.

Friend Nowhere Man,

Is religion really that bad of a thing?

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Today humans have evolved and evolution has come from a single cell to human beings and the next stage of evolution should be superman and this superman simply means man who has greater potentials and realisation of these potential comes only when one starts to travel inwards and that is meditating which is the other end of thinking.
This methods of meditating are labelled as ways or paths or religions.
If today when it is already known to humans guess the ladder is no more important cause now it has been internalised, it is now part of human genetically through evolution.

Love & rgds