What's the importance of religion?

[SgtPepper]

If you really want the answer to this question, I'd recommend learning of Joseph Campbell and his talks on Mythology.

To me, religion is a very important because it is grounded in tradition which speaks to its ability to stay true over time, or they are paths that ultimately work because they've been tried over the years.

I'd consider myself a Catholic. It's how I was raised, it's the model that makes sense to me, and it's got all the practices I need to reach heaven/nirvana. 

There is also significant beauty in religion. If you stare at Catholic church or mosques, you can find exquisite visual beauty that is unmatched and sounds bring you stillness and vulnerability. 

[Bodhitree]

I’d suggest reading the Skeptic’s Annotated Quran, to point out contradictions, false prophecies, violence, sex and so on. It’s pretty full of this stuff. 
 

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/Quran/

[Yahya]

@Gesundheit If that's the case then that means that it come from some sort of Divine thing because Humans are always capable of making mistakes. Therefore, the divine is God which is Allah. Islam is Quran so if the Quran came from Allah then true Islam also came from Allah.

[Yahya]

@Bodhitree Thank you for posting it. I will go over it

[Nahm]

Religion is just you callin you home, same as every thing else. ? 

[snowyowl]

My ideas of religion have changed with me; what doesn't change so much is the churches, and other religious groups themselves, so I've ended up being a religious migrant and refugee. I even found Buddhist and Quaker groups too inflexible; I'm just about hanging on in the Unitarian church, who are more open to my eclectic approach. 

Why is it important? Community and belonging I guess, and to have other people to practice with. I still need a bit of that stage blue belonging. 

Edited February 22, 2021 by snowyowl

[blackchair]

every religion is valid, im mixing christianity and buddism for now....

[The Buddha]

@Yahya U have not even read Quran. I'm totally sure that u did not even read it all. By this words u shall know how much u were indoctrinated or not. How much is from yourself or from other people.

Edited February 23, 2021 by The Buddha
grammar

[James123]

@Someone here if religion helps you to surrender the “I” or “self”, it is very important for you. If not, it is not important. Whatever helps you to surrender yourself, thats the path that you should follow.

[Someone here]

On 2/22/2021 at 4:14 PM, Gesundheit said:

Relatively speaking, what religion provides, science cannot. And vice-versa. You said that religious people are generally happier than atheists, so that's one example of how religion is better than science. After all, we all want to be happy, right? However, it seems that you're valuing the materialist paradigm over happiness (at least in this particular conversation), so of course to you science will seem better than religion. If you want to manipulate the material world, probably science is the best way to do that. But what is the value in manipulating the material world? Does it really mean anything other than what you project onto it? Notice that for someone who values happiness over manipulation, religion is better.

Agreed. Yet thread wasn't to compare science with religion.. But what gives religion worldwide upvotes regardless of it's nonsensical aspect. It turns out we agree on that aspect.. Which is it makes people's lives easier.. Provides a sense of purpose.. Morality.. Meaning.. Etc.  

It's not that it 'actually "delivered that. Morality and the meaning of life etc are of course relative and subjective if we look closely at what" morality " really is. But even a sweet illusion that gives a sense of direction in life simply feels better than the nihilism of atheism. 

 

On 2/22/2021 at 4:47 PM, Yahya said:

1. I believe that Islam is true because the Quran is without any errors. 

It is filled with errors.  But regardless I'm not trying to debate a specific religion here.  

Contemplate this.. 'religion' is at the ultimate analysis a thought in your mind. A set of beliefs without a believer. Such That the moment you stop holding the belief.. You are no longer a 'believer'. 

Edited February 23, 2021 by Someone here

[Yahya]

@Someone hereSpot to me one mistake and I will leave Islam. You are not debating. Help me out and make me realize my illusion.

[Hen Zuhe]

@Gesundheit It Depends.

Some People need to READ something to believe.

Some People need to HEAR to someone to believe.

Some People need to FEEL something to believe.

Those people sometimes need a RELIGION to believe,

I think that some people need to START in an religion to begin to believe..

and after of being a time in religion... is necesary get out of any RELIGION.

and Follow, discover, practice the TRUE LOVE.

NAMASTE.

[Moksha]

Religion is dogma, corrupted by the conceptual mind, often originally based on direct wisdom, but inevitably corroded by the human condition, and ultimately devoid of integrity.

Spirituality is direct realization of the divine, born of the Self, independent of others, and abundant with integrity.

Trust your inner Self, rather than external authorities. You already are the answer to all of your questions.

[Someone here]

@Yahya why would I do that? That was never the goal of this thread to debunk religion but to search it's positive sides.

If you find peace and Happiness with Islam then does it really matter if it's "true"? 

Edited February 24, 2021 by Someone here

[Yahya]

@Someone hereThen what's the value you can offer to me in this thread? Did I miss something from this thread?

[snowyowl]

16 hours ago, Yahya said:

@Someone hereSpot to me one mistake and I will leave Islam. You are not debating. Help me out and make me realize my illusion.

The only "mistake" is if we believe the scriptures can directly describe the absolute truth, which is beyond words, even holy words. Holy scripture is relative truth pointing to absolute truth, in that sense all are equally valid if they work for someone. But we only find out by practicing it  

[Someone here]

@Yahya I didn't want to discuss the content of any specific religion or whether it is true or valid. But the structure of religion in general and the epistemic value of "faith" and "belief". But since you insist on that.. I find the concept of "soul" in Islam very interesting if you wanna discuss Islamic flaws. 

Islam believes that each "person" has a unique soul that is going to be restructured after death of the body in the day of judgment to be "judged" and based on the good deeds vs bad deeds... It's either gonna go to heaven or hell. The proplem with this is (if you are familiar with Buddhist teaching) that there is no individual self for each human organism. There is no self inside of you which is in control of your life and can be 'judged' objectively for its deeds. 

The modern scientific understanding of the "self" is that its temporary and subject to time and change and death as the body is.. And the 'mind' or 'personality' is not an abstract spiritual essence that is separate from the body.. But it's a byproduct of the brain.. 

There is no 'self' separate from the body or inside the body.. But rather its an emergent phenomenon of the body..

The body and mind grow together and decay together.. And we can actually change your personality by playing with the chemicals in your brain... A little injection of chloroform can erase your thinking process completely and can turn 'you' into a psycho completely lost control.... That shows you that your self is a byproduct of chemicals in the brain.. 

And the personality dissolves once you get older enough.. As a result of the dissolve of the neural network in the brain.. You see? That' personality ' completely dissolves in elderly people because it was never a substantial thing onto itself. 

And there is another issue.. The personality is not just one.. But rather it's a stream of different personalities.. My personality when I was 10 yo is different from when I was 20 yo is different from 30 yo etc.. And each moment there is something that gets added into my "self" and something that gets removed.. So which one of these different selves will get rebirthed at the day of judgement???? The 10 yo me or the 30 yo me or the 60 yo which is a completely different person???? 

And sometimes people have split personality disorder.. Which is a common mental illnesses.. A person can have two different personalities because of a certain damage in his brain.. Which might make him in some cases behave like a murderer and sometimes not.. So which personality of that person will get judged on the day of judgement???  You see how this doesn't make sense because it assumes this kinda static 'soul' or 'self' that lives inside the organism statically and permanently. There just is no such thing. 

 

 

[Gesundheit]

1 hour ago, Someone here said:

@Yahya There just is no such thing. 

From the Buddhist perspective.

[Yahya]

@Someone hereThat gave me some wisdom. Thanks. I will think and contemplate on that idea.

Edited February 24, 2021 by Yahya
Growth

[Someone here]

6 hours ago, Gesundheit said:

From the Buddhist perspective.

You can verify it in 5 minutes of self-inquiry. 

@Yahya great ?.