What is the function of religion?

[Confused Ape]

So, if you want a society without religion, then you at least should take pains in order to understand religion, not simply take it as "drug", etc.

I agree. There's always that question of why humans, as a species, evolved to believe in deities and create religions. Evolutionary biologists are looking into this puzzle although they are still divided as to what the real answer is. I found a very interesting article on the subject. It's too complicated to make useful quotes from but definitely worth reading - Evolution and Religion - Darwin's God. It has nothing to do with Darwin's personal beliefs.

The problem with such views is that they derive from modernist philosophy. They would not dare wander into post-modernism as it makes everything irrelevant.

Postmodernism Definition

A late 20th-century style and concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism, which represents a departure from modernism and is characterized by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media, and a general distrust of theories.

Postmodern Religion

Postmodern religion[1][2] is any type of religion that is influenced by postmodernism and postmodern philosophies.[3][4] Examples of religions that may be interpreted using postmodern philosophy include Postmodern Christianity,[5] Postmodern Neopaganism[citation needed], and Postmodern Buddhism.[6] Postmodern religion is not an attempt to banish religion from the public sphere; rather, it is a philosophical approach to religion that critically considers orthodox assumptions (that may reflect power differences in society rather than universal truths).[7] Postmodern religious systems of thought view realities as plural and subjective and dependent on the individual's worldview. Postmodern interpretations of religion acknowledge and value a multiplicity of diverse interpretations of truth, being and ways of seeing. There is a rejection of sharp distinctions and global or dominant metanarratives in postmodern religion and this reflects one of the core principles[8] of postmodern philosophy. A postmodern interpretation of religion emphasises the key point that religious truth is highly individualistic, subjective and resides within the individual.[9]

The article gives a brief introduction to postmodern interpretations of Christianity and then goes on to NeoPaganism. It ends with a brief mention of Postmodern spirituality.

So, it doesn't make everything irrelevant where religion is concerned. It's just a different way of looking at religion.

Cause I guarantee you that those atheist who used to be christians they believed in all the bible stuff, or at least most of it them, they believed faith was a good thing, they believed religion was a beneficial to the world, they believed in the resurrection, they accepted christ in their lives. And then latter in life they all realized that it was all bullshit. And they drop it. They were religious and now there not.

This only applies to Christians who became atheists. It doesn't explain why people are dropping mainstream religions and turning to NeoPaganism, quantum mysticism or other New Age belief systems.

An atheist is someone who doesn't believe in deities but this doesn't automatically mean that no atheist can believe in conspiracy theories or alien abductions. I found an interesting discussion about this on Yahoo Answers.

Why Are Atheists Less Likely To Believe In Conspiracy Theories

A Poster:It's part and parcel of being a skeptic. Atheists tend not to take things on faith and demand hard evidence.

Another Poster: I think this may be true for a specific breed of atheists as it were. Many of us are Skeptics first and atheism is simply a result of that. Skepticism does not mean not believing in anything in this movement, it simply means assigning belief to things according to how much evidence you have for them. Conspiracy theories tend to have very little evidence backing them up, so skeptics tend not to believe in them.

That being said, not all atheists are skeptics, and I know a few atheists who will believe any conspiracy theory they hear.