(October 1, 2011 at 11:40 am)medviation Wrote: I have conversations sometimes with my friends who are religious and we talk about evidence, logic, reason, universe, etc. And usually we agree that the Bible and other religious text have obvious mistakes in logic and science uncovered evidence that negates the context of the Bible. So I end up asking them why still hold on to your faith when you know that it is flawed.Well, it's not about safety, but it's about social obligations.
One answer I got is it is part of their identity that for a Christian country I live in, it is part of culture and tradition to follow the footsteps of Christ. I stopped arguing with them for a while. Hmmm... that's a good point at first. It is important for a person to identify one's self.
Then later, my thought was that not all the ways people identify themselves are good. In one case a person is required to commit a crime to be identified as part of part a gang. And if more and more of your neighbors join this gang, you'd be pressured to do the same in order to have a sense of safety. For me, in the same sense this is what happened to people becoming religious. What about your thoughts?
Like for example, my atheist father and mother still attend family meeting and meals during Ramazan, and my mother bought a suckling lamb for me to slaughter during Qurban bayram, simply because my devout Grandmother, may she rest in peace, requested it.
