I suppose I differ from a lot of people here in that I see religion as being useful in particular contexts. In more primitive times, when there was basically no knowledge of how the world worked and no sophisticated understanding of how to positively control human behavior, religions formed as a kind of dam to control and guide the 'river' of human development until such a time that humanity was more capable of controlling the 'waters' of its own development with its own conscientious and informed decision making.
The earliest human societies had many of the same problems we do now, for example: people killing other people. How do we solve it today? Prison, rehabilitation, crime prevention, a fair judicial system, etc. How did humans solve it back in primitive societies? One way was that they developed this religious idea that even after death you can be punished in horrific fashion for your crimes even if the society didn't discover them or was able to punish you. Today, we can handle things a lot better and most people don't rely on the fear of suffering in an afterlife as an incentive not to murder or commit other injustices. Many of these religious constructions simply aren't necessary to generate good behavior anymore, so we have lost much of our use for them just as we lose the use for braces once they have served their purpose in straightening our teeth.
*In this context I'm using religion not merely to mean philosophical or spiritual ideas, but coercive systems of belief which are characteristic of most major religions.
The earliest human societies had many of the same problems we do now, for example: people killing other people. How do we solve it today? Prison, rehabilitation, crime prevention, a fair judicial system, etc. How did humans solve it back in primitive societies? One way was that they developed this religious idea that even after death you can be punished in horrific fashion for your crimes even if the society didn't discover them or was able to punish you. Today, we can handle things a lot better and most people don't rely on the fear of suffering in an afterlife as an incentive not to murder or commit other injustices. Many of these religious constructions simply aren't necessary to generate good behavior anymore, so we have lost much of our use for them just as we lose the use for braces once they have served their purpose in straightening our teeth.
*In this context I'm using religion not merely to mean philosophical or spiritual ideas, but coercive systems of belief which are characteristic of most major religions.
