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I think the issue is people thinking that there is a vacuum in themselves that can be 'filled'. Too many people want to find an answer outside of themselves, po

I think the issue is people thinking that there is a vacuum in themselves that can be 'filled'. Too many people want to find an answer outside of themselves, possibly for the simple reason that true self-growth is really fucking hard. On one hand, religion serves to control people who would otherwise not be controlled. Fear is the driving factor - don't steal, or you won't go to heaven. Don't murder, or you won't go to heaven. For some people, it just apparently isn't enough to not murder because nobody wants to be murdered. The need a belief that there is an invisible man in the sky that will 'get them', so keep it clean. But it still doesn't work. Because supposedly religious people steal, lie, cheat and murder all of the time. Think of how many prisons are full of people who still believe in God or Allah.

sirmarksalot 12y ago
I don't think most religious people think of it as that kind of quid pro quo. Most people, regardless of conviction, want to do "good," whatever that means. Religion tells people what they already believe: that helping other people is a good thing, even when it's not comfortable, and there is some reason for you to do it -- some kind of meaning. They don't obey God out of fear of hell; they use heaven and hell to rationalize what they already feel is right. Regardless what the doctrine may say, people believe in God because they want to be good, not the other way around. This instinct gets manipulated by certain religious institutions that emphasize political and scientific claims made either by church leaders or their religious text. They use it to justify other things that they already "know" without strong evidence. Ideas like racial purity, xenophobia and the like. And they often make the same mistake that you have, in believing that people who believe differently only do so for material reasons, and without the fear of eternal damnation, we'll immediately descend into a society of savages and psychopaths.

sirmarksalot 12y ago

I don't think most religious people think of it as that kind of quid pro quo. Most people, regardless of conviction, want to do "good," whatever that means. Religion tells people what they already believe: that helping other people is a good thing, even when it's not comfortable, and there is some reason for you to do it -- some kind of meaning. They don't obey God out of fear of hell; they use heaven and hell to rationalize what they already feel is right. Regardless what the doctrine may say, people believe in God because they want to be good, not the other way around. This instinct gets manipulated by certain religious institutions that emphasize political and scientific claims made either by church leaders or their religious text. They use it to justify other things that they already "know" without strong evidence. Ideas like racial purity, xenophobia and the like. And they often make the same mistake that you have, in believing that people who believe differently only do so for material reasons, and without the fear of eternal damnation, we'll immediately descend into a society of savages and psychopaths.