Why Have Any Religion?

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I’m struggling with a comment someone posted:
Why can’t religion just vanish all together? The world would definitely be better off without religion! Not without god so don’t get it twisted, just religion.

This person is saying God exists but why have religion?
 
My thoughts.

Religion is put up sometimes as this big horrible monster thing. However, basically, religion is how a group of people worship and who hold a particular set of theological ideas. Nothing more. Nothing less.
 
What does this poster mean by religion? Sometimes the things we object to are really strawmen.
 
cody.helscel said:
I’m struggling with a comment someone posted:

Why can’t religion just vanish all together? The world would definitely be better off without religion! Not without god so don’t get it twisted, just religion.

This person is saying God exists but why have religion?
Click to expand...
So…if he does not mean losing a daily relationship with God, what’s being eliminated? Worshiping together? We wouldn’t be better off without that. Linking our worship to those who went before us? That would be a terrible loss. Thinking about what is true and what is not true? Having differences of opinion? I don’t think that ever works in any field of human endeavor. The truth causes some conflicts, but that is nothing next to the trouble when the truth is swept under the rug just in order to avoid conflict. There are some very sick families and sick communities that come about when that course is taken.

Does he mean getting rid of using God as an excuse to do things are not becoming behavior for those who put their trust in God? That isn’t getting rid of religion. That is getting rid of the abuse of religion. When that temptation can be eliminated from religion, that is a very good thing.

According to the Catechism:
CCC 1807 Justice is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor. Justice toward God is called the “virtue of religion.”

Religion, after all, consists of behaving towards God as God justly deserves to be treated: worshiping and observing the commandments of God.
 
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I laugh at this question (not at you for asking it)

“Why have religion” is equivalent to asking why have shared goals or ideals as a community.

Rule of law gives us lines we aren’t supposed to cross, but inside those boundaries it’s a free for all.
Laws don’t help us learn desired thinking and behavior.
Religion teaches us the golden rule, to ‘love your neighbor as yourself’
Religion teaches us to forgive,
Religion gives us behavior ideals that make communities function.
 
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If you take religion away from politics, from public life, from ecclesiological institution then gradually nothing will remain.
Religion often acts as the state-creative state-builder, the patriotic arm.
Take religion from Ukrainians, Israelis, Kurds, for example, and there will be no foundation for sacrifice, patriotism, faith.
The eclecsiological institution should be one of the fundamental building pillars of the state.
Religion is an important element to resist the culture of death, indifference, hedonism, debauchery, atheism, permissiveness and many other vices.
 
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cody.helscel said:
I’m struggling with a comment someone posted:
Why can’t religion just vanish all together? The world would definitely be better off without religion! Not without god so don’t get it twisted, just religion.

This person is saying God exists but why have religion?
Click to expand...
Catechism
III. “YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME”

2110 The first commandment forbids honoring gods other than the one Lord who has revealed himself to his people. It proscribes superstition and irreligion. Superstition in some sense represents a perverse excess of religion; irreligion is the vice contrary by defect to the virtue of religion.
Click to expand...
 
My understanding of “religion” is that it’s a tool, or a roadmap, to lead us to the highest truth, and to develop our relationship with God.

Like all other tools, it can be used for good or bad.

But why would every single person want to re-invent the wheel every time?

Besides, I’m not so sure religion could vanish–humans seems to instinctively search for the truth, and try to figure out the bigger questions, so I think if all religion vanished at once, you would have an initial era of philosophical chaos, followed by people searching together for truth, or finding truth, and then sharing what they learned with others, who would come together in some sort of agreement or community.

But I’m not a philosopher or theologian, so I could be completely wrong…
 
Why have governments?
Why have countries?
Why have businesses?
Why have knitting bees?
What have eco groups?
What have hunting clubs?
Why have Prius car clubs?

Why have families?
 
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There is a term for the concept whereby a group or organization is seen in the popular mind as having way more power that it has in real life.

Religions fall under this category.

Can’t think of the word…
 
Religion, at its best, simply informs us about and helps lead us to God. That should be it’s essential purpose. And it can succeed at that purpose to the extent that it knows the true God to begin with.
 
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Having an immortal soul, it is natural for a human being to want to transcend this life and join its creator. So no matter where or when in human history, religion has always existed.
 
cody.helscel said:
I’m struggling with a comment someone posted:
Why can’t religion just vanish all together? The world would definitely be better off without religion! Not without god so don’t get it twisted, just religion.

This person is saying God exists but why have religion?
Click to expand...
James 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Religion helps make us better people. But religion is only beneficial if we apply it to our lives. Let’s use an analogy of soap. Soap when used properly is useful for keeping us physically clean. But if we don’t use it we don’t get clean. The person who doesn’t use soap is no better off than someone who doesn’t have any soap.

The same principle applies with religion. If we apply religious principles in our lives we become more like God. But if we ignore religious principles we won’t improve.

I hope this helps…
 
Religion is basically a bunch of us idiots getting together and helping one another be less dumb. The perfectly sinless have no need for Catholic practices, but none of us are perfect, are we?
 
If you cannot work that out from your own experience of religion then you may not be able to assimilate any answers posters here might give you.

A better course of action might be for you to tell us what you think the answer might be?
 
Why have rules of chess? I’m not saying it’d be better without chess, don’t get it twisted, but the world would definitely be better without “international rules”. I wanna win no matter how it is!

But to answer your question, Church is the physical, visible institution with which we are connected to the Divine.
 
I don’t know that the world would be better off without religion. Religion is a comfort to a lot of people. It helps with hard situations and it certainly seems to have some adaptive benefits according to studies on lifespan and mental health and so forth. The problem isn’t religion itself. People fight and are horrible to each other about all manner of things, not just religion. People just need to keep their hands to themselves and learn to live with folk who are different than them.

Depends on how you define religion, too. Sometimes people make a difference between religion as to spiritual beliefs and practices and religion as an organized system with rules and well-defined theology. The latter, maybe that’s not for everyone, but even so if you believe in gods, then that has certain implications, you know? Religion comes out of the conclusions people make about divinity and its effect on them and the world at large. Really, if you believe in god and that has some affect on the way you live your life, you’re practicing a religion.
 
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