How to counter the following argument?

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Argg193

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The one that says that religion is just a trick from evolution in order for humanity to overcome their fear of death and their lack of purpose and the reason the human species has persisted for so long.

I’ve become obsessed with this argument to the point where I can’t fully go back to religion no matter how hard I try. Whenever I start believing again I can’t avoid thinking that it may be my mind tricking me because of my fear of death.

Please let me know if there are any counter arguments to this, it would help me a lot.
 
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This is just off of the top of my head, but there are many other things people use to try to cope with and overcome a fear of death (hedonism, non-religious ideologies, their jobs, etc.). Religion seems pretty demanding out of the ones I’ve listed if it’s just a coping mechanism.
 
To “overcome” this you need to face your fear of religion being purely man made.

Why is that so anxiety producing for you?
 
I’m a Reconstructionist Jew. Many Jews, besides Reconstructionists, do not hold a belief in life after death.

If religion is a device created by humans to over their fear of death, then why Judaism? Our rituals and practices gain us no merit with God. We do not believe in Original Sin, and therefore we do not perform mitzvahs or commands of the Law of Moses in order to gain atonement or to be made right with God.

Many Jews do not believe in God. Reconstructionsts, for example, generally do not hold God to be a divine Person that hears or responds to prayers, that punishes the wicked or rewards the good. Yet being that we stem from Orthodox Judaism, you will find that many of us live very Torah-observant lives, pray regularly daily, go to synagogue frequently, keep kosher, etc. Why do it if we don’t believe in a personal God, an afterlife, a God that answers prayers, or that following God’s commands brings us righteousness and forgiveness of sins?

That’s because Jews don’t base their religion on death. We base our religion on life. God is not about death or promising us an eternal tomorrow, but giving us a life now that we are enjoying today. You have life today, don’t you? Isn’t that miraculous that you even exist, you personally?

Jews see that as evidence of a greater Power, a more powerful Source we call “God.” What God is, we cannot say. But we don’t worship God because we are afraid that we won’t get an eternal tomorrow. We worship God because God has given us a today. Isn’t that enough of a miracle?

Is the reality and miracle of life today a trick? Sure. Some religions believe and promise and afterlife. And the Jewish sages talk about a “World to Come,” but no one knows exactly what is to really come, if anything. We only have now.

So be grateful to that Something Greater that gave you this now. This may be all you get. If you are so overcome by the fear of death that this is the only reason you will worship God, then you probably won’t get the reward of eternal life from God even if there is one if that’s the only reason you are doing it.
 
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Argg193 said:
The one that says that religion is just a trick from evolution in order for humanity to overcome their fear of death and their lack of purpose and the reason the human species has persisted for so long.

I’ve become obsessed with this argument to the point where I can’t fully go back to religion no matter how hard I try. Whenever I start believing again I can’t avoid thinking that it may be my mind tricking me because of my fear of death.

Please let me know if there are any counter arguments to this, it would help me a lot.
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I think motivation for religion stems from either empathy or for a desire for control more than anything. The argument that it is purely motivated to avoid the fear of death isn’t a very good one. You’ll note in the time of Jesus that there was a branch within Judaism (the Sadducees) who didn’t even believe in the Resurrection. Religious groups and beliefs throughout the world hold a wide variety of views and of course there is also the idea of hell, which is something not exclusive to Christianity but also existed in some form among the Greeks (Tartarus) and in other pagan belief systems.

The fear of death isn’t really as strong as people make it out to be. If we are put in a situation where death is imminent, then yes, some strong chemicals will kick in to make us alert and afraid, but the average person doesn’t go around fearing death on a daily basis. 99.9% of the time we aren’t even thinking about it and our mind is occupied with a thousand other things. It isn’t unusual even for a completely non-religious person to come to a relative state of acceptance once their life is about to end. Occasionally a person might become obsessively fixated on the idea of death, but humans are complex creatures and there are tens of thousands of different obsessive thought patterns or borderline personalities that we might develop.

In either case, having a biological motivation to do something doesn’t mean there isn’t a spirit or a God or that Jesus didn’t exist and was risen from the dead. Of course there are going to be biological explanations to describe why we do things. Shouldn’t that be obvious? This isn’t anything we haven’t known since forever.

There are as many explanations for why a person might be religious as there are people on the planet. The pure and perfect reason is because we love God for no other reason than that he is God, and his Name is wonderful beyond all names, and it is right for him to be praised. But then, because we are corrupted creatures, we also add billionaires of other reasons. Sometimes religious practices and ceremonies are an excuse to have sex with a prostitute and get drunk.
 
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Thinking that one day everything will just disappear is extremely scary to me. Without an afterlife, I will see my loved ones die knowing I will never see them again. And whatever we do in this life wouldn’t matter at all, since we wouldn’t be able to experience the time after we die. I may be taking a nihilistic approach but I cant avoid thinking that way on the possibility of not having an afterlife.
 
Have you read what happened in Fatima in 1917?
There were 70,000 witnesses, and many were hostile to faith.
 
If this is causing you a lot of anxiety it is likely to be something that’s purpose is to trouble your soul and draw you from your belief. I won’t be popular saying this but it may be one of the devils little tricks. When the soul seeks to rid itself of evil it can become anxious and then if that anxiety is stirred up even more it can wear itself out in search of a means of escape, a bit like an animal caught in a trap. Also it tends to prevent any enjoyment of a good thing like religion(this is not my brain here it is from St F de Sales - Introduction to a devout life chp 11 anxiety) . Anyway I shall write here what St Francis de Sales recommends to get oneself out of such a dilemma and hopefully it might help you. The first and I’ve also heard my priest mention this first is to try and calm yourself. I’d suggest for you to think to yourself, so what if religion is that sort of trick from evolution etc. God made us, he made our brains, he made than thought, that’s concept and even this trick and the fear of death itself and then maybe you can laugh at all that. In order to calm yourself a little. You should then try gently and meekly to accomplish your desire, in your case to return to belief with out hurry or anxiety. You should speak to God often and with great love even if you don’t feel this yet. You should hold your soul carefully out to him and ask him to care for it. Try to find a devout friend or confessor or spiritual adviser to express any anxieties to long the way. In your case I’d speak to a priest about this fear of death. I think that everyone is a little afraid of death, or at least the suffering leading up to it. Those of us who are Catholics (cant speak for other Christians as I have never been one) are probably a little less afraid. I am less afraid because I believe I will be with my God when I die and because I believe that my actions here and now can help. I believe in the mercy of Jesus and the more I know Jesus the less I worry about death because His love is soo intense I trust more and more in Him and know I am going to be safe with Him now and forever. I dont know how but I dont really need to.
 
BenYosef said:
That’s because Jews don’t base their religion on death. We base our religion on life. God is not about death or promising us an eternal tomorrow, but giving us a life now that we are enjoying today. You have life today, don’t you? Isn’t that miraculous that you even exist, you personally?
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Yes exactly so. A religion desired to assuage or in some way “deny” the reality of death only is not enough. If we primarily grasp life and it meaning then death settles into its rightful place even should we not hope for more…which Christians of course do…but by the same faith by which we trust in God for the present…as did the ancient Jews.
 
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Argg193 said:
The one that says that religion is just a trick from evolution in order for humanity to overcome their fear of death and their lack of purpose and the reason the human species has persisted for so long.
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In order to believe this, as a vehicle to deny Christianity, you’d have to deny the following things:
  • Jesus was a real person
  • Jesus did the things that are recorded that He did
  • Jesus was resurrected from the dead – and His followers interacted with him after his death
  • Jesus’ followers founded a religion based on all His teachings (pre- and post-crucifixion), and the leaders of this religion all went to their deaths rather than recant the ‘lie’ that they had made up
So, it’s not just an abstract question of ‘religion’. If you are a Christian, then by saying that you just can’t ‘believe’, you’re saying you reject these historically-attested events (in addition to the tenets of the faith). Is that what you’re saying?
 
BenYosef said:
That’s because Jews don’t base their religion on death. We base our religion on life. God is not about death or promising us an eternal tomorrow, but giving us a life now that we are enjoying today. You have life today, don’t you? Isn’t that miraculous that you even exist, you personally?
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Just to be clear - Christians don’t base our religion on death. Quite the contrary. Our entire faith is based on new life. Without Easter, we Christians would have no religion. As our Lord said:

“I came that they [we] might have life, and have it more abundantly…”

Our faith is all about life now and in the future. I must say, that I find it a bit sad that there are Jews (whom I tell my children are our grandparents in the faith) that don’t believe in and love the great I AM.
 
TULIPed said:
Christians don’t base our religion on death.
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I always find such absolute empirical statements curious.
How would you know? Unless of course you are suggesting those who do in practise are not worthy of the name which I wouldnt agree with.

In fact I believe many maturing Christians see religion as a fear of death extinguisher. My father always said he adopted mums Catholicism as fire insurance 😀
 
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My religious beliefs don’t help me overcome my fear of death so much.
They do however give me meaning to my life while I am here.
 
Argg193 said:
The one that says that religion is just a trick from evolution in order for humanity to overcome their fear of death and their lack of purpose and the reason the human species has persisted for so long.

I’ve become obsessed with this argument to the point where I can’t fully go back to religion no matter how hard I try. Whenever I start believing again I can’t avoid thinking that it may be my mind tricking me because of my fear of death.

Please let me know if there are any counter arguments to this, it would help me a lot.
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If you go back to the dawn of mankind, religious-type ceremonies were almost certainly performed as a way of dealing with death and cemented the group together. There were definitely evolutionary benefits there. I can’t see anyone arguing against this.

There are certainly aspects of that that have been carried over into modern religions. What you need to decide is whether Catholicism is just a version of these early proto religions or something different.
 
Argg193 said:
The one that says that religion is just a trick from evolution in order for humanity to overcome their fear of death and their lack of purpose and the reason the human species has persisted for so long.
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The scientific evolutionist makes no claim about the non-physical (immaterial) development of mankind as he has no data. On the other hand, the philosophical or social evolutionist do make such claims. And all such claims are inferential, that is opinions that are contrived from their existing biases, not derived from just data.

We do know that our immaterial or spiritual development determines our affections. Our affections determine our attitudes, our attitudes drive our behaviors. In the course of human history, was matricide, patricide, fratricide, infanticide or homicide considered acceptable behavior? No. Why? Because we have a strong innate affection for our own. This affection cannot be said to evolve if it always existed. What has evolved through Christ’s revelation is our understanding that this affection, this love, is to be aimed at all mankind, to our neighbors as to ourselves.
 
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My response was to the phrase, “That’s because Jews don’t base their religion on death.” Odd that you didn’t find that phrase curious, no?

In any case, if I had been responding to “That’s because Jews don’t fear death”, I would’ve responded differently. You are correct - I’m sure there’s are as many reasons people become Christians as there are Christians.

However, when we discuss what the Christian religion is based on - it’s just not true that it’s based on anything else but the resurrection. It is in fact binary. Without the resurrection, there would be no Christianity. The resurrection is definitionally the opposite of death. Therefore, Christianity cannot be based on death.

Individual Christians might base the reasons for becoming or being Christians on many things. But their religion isn’t based on death. It’s based on new life.
 
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Not a very good trick if some end up believing and some don’t. Seems to have failed.
 
TULIPed said:
My response was to the phrase, “That’s because Jews don’t base their religion on death.” Odd that you didn’t find that phrase curious, no?
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I am not experienced in Judaism so felt no need to make my views felt if that ok. Further, Judaism was not founded on a belief in the afterlife while Christianity certainly was. So the author may well be correct.
TULIPed said:
However, when we discuss what the Christian religion is based on
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Exactly. But that wasnt what you actually said above.
And imperfect Christians are still Christians…hopfully maturing and purifying their reasons and motives towards love of life rather than fear of hell and death just as our Jewish friend observes.
 
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I don’t trust that argument. Why would you.
 
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