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Please never ever say religion fills a need. It fills a want. No part of being human needs religion any more than they need crack cocaine. Id argue the effec
by ThePherocity 14y ago
Please never ever say religion fills a need. It fills a want. No part of being human needs religion any more than they need crack cocaine. Id argue the effects are similar on the brain as well.
- WayneDB 14y agoPlease never say that religion has never filled a need. You don't know that. Blind atheism is just as bad, if not worse, than organized theism. The problems start when people think they know something and they really don't.
- ThePherocity 14y agoReligion has never filled a need. Religion is a placebo. It purports to do something, and cannot fulfill on its promise. No one, not one human needs a placebo. They NEED air to breath or they will die, they NEED shelter or they will freeze to death. They WANT religion for a number of different reasons, but not one reason is because without it they will die.
- swombat 14y agoFunny, considering that the term placebo actually means: (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/placebo?s=t http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/placebo?s=t) 1. med control group See also placebo effect an inactive substance or other sham form of therapy administered to a patient usually to compare its effects with those of a real drug or treatment, but sometimes for the psychological benefit to the patient through his believing he is receiving treatment Emphasis mine. You seem to have an axe to grind on this subject, like some of the more hardcore atheists. The deep irony of that is that you believe with fervour and passion and faith that people who believe with fervour and passion and faith are stupid. Epic fail. Develop a critical thinking habit, not a reflexive opposition habit. Your life will be better for it.
- ThePherocity 14y agoI'm stupid, epic fail? Nice.
- swombat 14y agoI didn't say that humans need religion, I said that religion fills a human need. Are you saying that purpose, social cohesion and rituals are not human needs? If so, I have 7 billion pieces of evidence against you - and that's just the live ones. The point of my comment is that this need can be filled by something other than religion. But science ain't it.
- ThePherocity 14y agoPurpose most certainly does not require religion. Social cohesion happens far better in the absence of religion. Finally, why would I need ritual. I loathe almost all pomp ant ritual. Regardless, you again need no religion for ritual. There is no need.
- swombat 14y agoAgain (I feel like I'm repeating myself), I didn't say that purpose requires religion. I didn't say that social cohesion requires religion. I didn't say that ritual requires religion. I said that human beings requires those things, and that religion is effective at fulfilling those requirements. I explicitly made the point that something else could be fulfilling those needs better than religion can. However, I do not think that that thing is science - at least not in its current form.
- cup 14y agoYet religion still exists and thrives after tens of thousands of years. In fact religion seems to be one of the only staples of human civilization, suggesting in fact that many people do have some kind of intrinsic need for religion in their lives.
- ThePherocity 14y agoIn most religions, it was a death sentence to leave the religion. So that couldn't possibly have had anything to do with it?