How much does Man need religion in the modern world.
That depends on the individual and how he or she was raised. None of us is born needing religion, and if we are raised without it, we eventually meet our emotional and intellectual needs without it and find no value in it. That's where I'm at. Religion has nothing to offer me because I have learned to be quite comfortable with the possibility that consciousness ends with death, that I am not watched over or loved by any creature not on this earth with me, that I will likely never see deceased loved ones again, that nobody answers silent prayer, that I can find community outside of religion, that purpose comes from within, that I am the arbiter of right and wrong, etc..
What would becoming religious do for somebody like that? Nothing. No need, no use.
But if you were raised to think some or all of those things and still do by middle age or later, it is highly likely that you will be unable to live without religion, the loss of which would be disorienting and socially destabilizing. Such a person needs religion, but is that really a good thing? Aren't we better off if we can mature without it and never need it?
Religion, like cigarettes, creates its own need, a good analogy. None of us is born needing a cigarette, and if we mature without them, we will never need one. We look at the cigarette smoker who tells us how comforting a smoke is for him, and are grateful to not have that need.
If one never stands on his own two feet and instead rolls around in a wheel chair, eventually, the chair becomes necessary. It would be cruel to take such a person's chair away. He needs it. But we do not envy him having such a need? He needs his wheelchair now, but he didn't before, and didn't need to allow himself to become dependent on it.
