RE: What is the function of religion?
May 15, 2014 at 10:47 am
(This post was last modified: May 15, 2014 at 10:53 am by Mister Agenda.)
(May 14, 2014 at 8:42 pm)ChadWooters Wrote: 1) Function of Religion: to bring Man knowledge of the Divine and to join us in communion with that Divinity.
Does it succeed at this? Even the pagan ones?
(May 14, 2014 at 8:42 pm)ChadWooters Wrote: 2) Someone that does not believe should look more closely to see the spiritual realities of life.
Whether someone who does not believe has any trouble seeing the spiritual side of life depends mostly on how you define 'spiritual'. Only supernatural definitions are off-limits to non-believers.
(May 14, 2014 at 8:42 pm)ChadWooters Wrote: 3) No. There is no secular alternative.
You don't think religion has any non-supernatural benefits at all?
(May 14, 2014 at 9:12 pm)Zidneya Wrote: (3) ATHEIST OR A SECULARIST DEVELOP A RELIGION?!!! Okay I'm gonna sound like an ass but I don't care. ARE YOU NUTS? ARE YOU MOCKING US? Atheism and religion are contradictions genius. We would create an institution or foundation to implement beneficial functions to society. The last thing we would do is develop a religion.
That would only apply to a very narrow definition of religion which would exclude some extant religions from being religions. There's no inherent contradiction to an atheist or secularist constructing a religion without belief in any deities. Religious humanism comes to mind. Jainism has some supernatural characters but no creator. Without folk religion added to it, the question of whether a God exists is considered pointless in Buddhism. And then there's Raellianism: the aliens they worship are not supernatural beings, so it's not a theistic religion in any conventional sense. And belief isn't a requirement to be a Unitarian, as long as you're a liberal.
I'm not anti-Christian. I'm anti-stupid.