(May 3, 2011 at 7:10 pm)darkblight Wrote:(May 3, 2011 at 9:14 am)Zenith Wrote:(May 2, 2011 at 5:10 pm)darkblight Wrote: Religion is mans first attempt at explaining the world around him, at least that which he does not understand. When people were sick I suppose praying was better than doing nothing, but as time has progressed we have developed more intelligent applications to heal the sick, explain the tides, explain why the sun rises and sets, rain, earthquakes, stars etc.
The more we understand about the natural world the more watered down religion becomes.
This is the purpose of religion, now of course religion has been used for good and bad, most here would think the bad outweighs the good, but it was necessary for us to get to a point where we can sit on a computer and discuss why it is not needed. Evolution works slowly and in a social sense to me it is apparent that some feel they still need religion to deal with life and some do not, and as the Not's begin to number more I believe we will find ourselves in a society that is better off for it.
That is certainly not the purpose of the invention of gods. People were always interested in studying themselves the nature, and in giving 'scientific' (i.e. proven) explanations to what they see - there were people in antiquity interested in cosmology, for instance, and in medicine (practical methods of healing). In old times (or only in some 'religions') the clergy was also dealing with healing (i.e. medicine). In Judaism, the clergy was the one who was supposed to study the scriptures/laws deeply, and were acting as judges to the people (i.e. when people had a problem that is solvable by laws, they appealed to those who learn and study the laws - the priests). There might be even things like a religion to have started from a very wise philosopher, and people to add fairytales as the time was passing. As for the present, most if not all religions do not have as purpose the explanation of the physical world around. They are rather concerned with life after death.
Anyway, it is somewhat difficult for the 21st century man to imagine the beliefs, day-to-day life, philosophies of the people 4000 years ago or more.
wrong.
tell this to the young earth creationists who think the planet is 6,000 years old and want to teach creation alongside evolution. It is one of the most debated issues between atheist and theist and it most def. a way to explain something the religon does not understand: the origins of man
and death and afterlife? again another thing man does not understand yet, and religion claims to have the answer, religion does not claim to know how to make your coffee ,as we know where it comes from , how it works etc, religion tries to explain again that which we cannot explain, and as we explain more religion is used less and less. this is the downfall of religion, as i do believe one day we will understand the origins of man, the universe , and death even better than we do now.
Seriously darkblight, I don't see where you contradict me: man has always been interested in sciences, while only recently (recent centuries) we have an atheist fashion and a strong relationship between science and atheism. As about antiquity and far past, it was not the religious books that taught to make wine, for instance, but the god of wine and celebration that taught people how it's done! in other words, they attached a god to the 'scientific' discovery.
As about young earth and afterlife, religions always seem to explain the philosophical and questionable issues, and the issues which cannot be known. But that doesn't mean that religious people (whichever religion) are confined to things that cannot be checked and studied. Also consider the fact that teachings about gods have changed in time, so was it really hard for people to change the teaching of a god from A to B according to the new discovery? I don't think so.
