Religion

edited December 1969 in Random Issues
So, I'm taking a philosophy class and we we've been talking about religion for the past week. There is a question that was raised in class and I'm interested in what you guys have to say about it. COULD RELIGION BE BAD FOR US?

Comments

  • peace be with you Rina4God,

    Rina, try your best to eliminate God, our Lord Jesus Christ, from your life for just two days. just two days! this will answer your question of whether religion is good for you or not. cause if it's bad, what else could be better? and if it is good, what's bad about it? God bless you. :)
  • That's not what I meant by my question and I certainly didn't mean that God or religion is bad for me. I meant that a lot of people use religion to justify all the killings and murderings they do in our world today.
  • In that case it depends on what religion you are talking about. If you mean Christianity, there is no way that could be wrong for you in any way. However some other religions say to kill people in certain occasions, ect..
  • Rina, the way I see it is like this... you can't stop people from using your name right? Pretend you had a credit card stolen and the person who stole it used it to buy some shameful things in some sinful places; unfortunately, anybody who sees the list of what you allegedly bought or where you bought them will judge you by it and, hence avoid you. The same applies to religion and God. Just because a person uses the name of God in vein (an act that has almost become a cliche throughout the course of history) doesn't mean that it is God that is at fault, in fact, it is quite the opposite. Personally, it makes me marvel at just how merciful the Lord is, to allow his Holy name to be dragged down by the people that are meant to exalt it.
  • hey Rina, ill tell u my 5c worth in reply to that question.

    I think religion can at times be bad in society because of the following:

    * It divides People in religious divisions when we are all made of the same Phsyical composition

    * It ignites hatred between individuals since they have a narrow mentality which only percieves their own religioun as the one and only right religion, disregarding others and even going to the extent of trying to eliminate those outside their own religion.

    * It disallows two individuals of two opposite religions to unite as one since each will (most likely) not give up his/her religion even though they may both be very compataable for one another. Let's face it, very few human's will actually consider that there religion may be wrong and change, sometimes its because of their mentality and at times because of their immediate family.

    * As for why religion is good, well the reasons are endless.


  • I recently had a school retreat and this issue came up quite a few times.

    Beleive it or not, many people do believe that religion is bad. I heard some of my friend's responses and you have to hear both sides of ther story. Coming from a coptic background I believe religion is the best thing that ever happened to me, whereas my friends continually said that the main problems in this world are due to religion.

    For example,
    - The continuous bombings in Isreal between the Muslims and Jews,
    - The ongoing war between shiate muslims and sunni muslims (resulting in physical and verbal violence),
    - The power religion has to influence a war (Eg. In Australia, WWI was greatly influenced by catholic leaders as they saw the war as being 'patriotic')

    i could go on...

    If you think about it, for some people, religion is based around violence, pain and torture, and in which, it should be based around peace, harmony, love and equality--something we are not seeing nowadays.

    Mazza
  • I think you're right Mazza, nowadays we are not seeing what a religion should be.

    All we see is the misconstrued image presented to us by the misguided actions of radicals (radicals in all religions, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, etc.) It's a true shame to see just how successful the devil has become in his wicked battle against us.

    However, when you step back and look at it, what's going on is that people see these atrocities comitted in the Name of God and the devil starts to play it up in their minds causing them to take religion as a whole as an inherently evil thing. It's a shame; however;

    I am thankfull that I was born into a Coptic family, raised in a Coptic Church, and taught the true path. And despite contrary belief, their is only one true path, just as their is only one true path to Heaven The catch with Christianity (i.e. Coptic Orthodox Christianity) is that we don't not kill for our beliefs or rather, kill others for their beliefs, in fact it's the opposite, since it's inception with St. Mark, we have bought our Holy Church through the blood of its Martyrs.

    What really gets to me though is, if these people view religion as evil, then what do they live for, what is the purpose in their lives?
  • [quote author=Luke90 link=board=11;threadid=3675;start=0#msg52880 date=1145481467]
    ...I am thankfull that I was born into a Coptic family, raised in a Coptic Church, and taught the true path. And despite contrary belief, their is only one true path...


    i cant agree more than that

    i have no idea what it would be like not to be coptic----thank the lord i am ;D
  • Experientially the question is a fair one. Religion, by nominal predominance has at times contributed to the aberrations and misfortunes of society......this includes every religion thus far. However, as Christ4life implied a religion must not be judged upon the pretentious proponents who wear it as an overtone for disguised deceit. As Saint Augustine once stated; when you judge a religion you never judge it by its abuse. Rather a religion must be tested upon the very founder who establishes its claims. To which, the Christian religion must reasonably be discerned by the very teachings and lifestyle of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christianity, in its very substantive claims and through the lifestyle of its Founder, is far from advocating any notion of murder, malice, and pretentiousness. Those who practice such illicit works have implicitly denounced the faith and abrogated it from their existential ramparts.

    Nevertheless, the question posed by philosophers of whether or not religion truly contributes to the fortification of moralistic values in life, is essentially presumptuous. The question has evoked a moral law within it's framework that ceases to logically sustain itself. For the very question, in its attempt to jettison religious prevalence has expunged the very ontological framework of morality. The question asks; "Isn't it immoral of men to embrace religion, when religion has caused so many problems in our society and world at large?" The very statement presumes that morality is the driving force that enables a reasonable response to it. Yet, morality can not be established unless you first evoke the very prevalence of religion.

    If you say it is immoral to embrace a hazardous belief such as a religion, then you're really posing that evil does exist. Now if evil does exist and you are corroborating the notion of its existence, then you must also believe that there is such a thing as good. Yet, if there is such a thing as good and evil, then aren't you necessarily evoking a moral law that distinguishes the good from the evil--a law that is absolute regardless of men's opinion of it. Now if there is a moral law then there must be a moral Law Giver. However, isn't He the very person you are attempting to disprove and not prove?
    There cannot be absolute morality unless there is an absolute God to impart that morality. There cannot be the acknowledgment of that God unless there is a religious philosophy to espouse such a Being. Thus, the very question on the outskirts of its reasoning is self-referentially inconsistent. The philosopher who seeks to jettison religion on the basis of his moral uprightness, in the form of a question, has essentially said nothing at all. He is welcome to take his seat and resign his position.


    God bless.
  • THAT'S AMAZING, I've never looked at it that way. Gmankbadi, I can't even begin to tell you how many conversations I've had on topics of this nature and relating and I truly never thought of going about the arguement in your manner. God Bless You, and may He also humble the obdurate and arrogant philosophers of our time.
  • God bless you too
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