What is the purpose of religion?

[kassi]

I cannot answer this for everyone, but i think it is for their safety or their livelihood or possiblely even to be spared from death and even those who dont practice religion
seek these same things. So the question is, are there any real power out there that can do these things for us? We do have witness many times over of one that can.
of course not every one believes these witnessess. The least of these witness will confess to this power and they know what I am talking about. The greastest power is the one that has the ability to do these things and this is the one everyone should be seeking. Our God is what drives us or leads us. Does it bring us life or death. Their are many powers but only one that Gives Life.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Yi-Fu Tuan, "Humanistic Geography", Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 66, No. 2: 266-276: "the impulse for cohesion and meaning."

 

[BruceDLimber]

Greetings!

I'll begin with our own purpose, and then get to religion!

As a Baha'i, I believe our purpose here is twofold:

- As individuals, we are to acquire the spiritual virtues we need both in this life and the Next.

- In aggregate, we are to carry forward an ever-advancing, spritually-based civilization.

And the purpose of religion is to show us HOW to go about this!

Best,

Bruce

 

[kai]

the purpose of religion is to fulfill what ever we want it to,
It can put someone else there when you are alone.
It can give you that extra bit of strength when you are in a desperate situation.
It can give you hope when all you have is desparation.
It can give you a purpose if you feel you are lacking one.
It can give you an explanation for the unexplanable.
It can give you a sense of community.
Its there for you if you want it.

 

[jeffrey]

To get you up early on the one day of the week you can sleep in, get dressed in uncomfortable clothes, go to a place and listen to someone while trying your best not to nod off, Then mingle with people that look down their nose at you, judging you, telling you how to live your life, while having a false life of their own. All to make themselves feel better about who they are.

 

[Atheist_Dave]

To get you up early on the one day of the week you can sleep in, get dressed in uncomfortable clothes, go to a place and listen to someone while trying your best not to nod off, Then mingle with people that look down their nose at you, judging you, telling you how to live your life, while having a false life of their own. All to make themselves feel better about who they are.

:clap Frubals

 

[Sunstone]

Does religion need a purpose? It seems to be substantially based on certain innate human predispositions, such a predisposition to personify things. If it has a purpose, then, perhaps then it has a purpose in much the same sense that the beauty of a sunrise has a purpose.

That is, there is no apparent reason we should see beauty in a sunrise, since it doesn't seem to increase our evolutionary fitness to do so. But seeing beauty in a sunrise is most likely a side effect of traits that did evolve because they were useful to us, such as color vision.

In much the same way, religion might be a product of traits that evolved for other uses than to produce religion, and religion is a side effect of those traits.

I don't mean to imply that religions have never been used by us to our own ends. Saying that would be as absurd as saying no artist has ever painted a sunrise to make money. Or no lover has ever watched a sunset with his partner to get laid. But I am merely suggesting that the uses we put religion to might not be uses that were naturally selected for, just as making money from painting a sunrise was never naturally selected for in evolution.

Just some thoughts before I'm pumped full of an adequate supply of coffee. Might be way off base, here.

 

[Green Gaia]

Hope.

 

[ChrisP]

Hope and Understanding