BigOl64 wrote on Aug 1
st, 2017 at 11:55am:
Jovial Monk wrote on Jun 25
th, 2017 at 9:47pm:
Depending on invisible sky fairies does not seem to me to be a sensible starting point for a philosophy to guide one in life?
It works great for children, there is no need for sound reasoned judgement or personal responsibility; however if you are an adult who is not retarded then religion and god are a waste of your time and energy.
The Atheism forum is slow, but I always like to see what people have to say. Forgive me for saying this, but some atheists are just as dogmatic as Godists. Religion is not a waste of time. It has many uses.
1. It allays a sense of emptiness when an individual is confronted by, and feels threatened by, the meaninglessness of life.
2. By latching on to the said sense of emptiness, God religions give their purveyors authority over the bewildered masses, and this authority has been used as currency with hereditary monarchs in every attempt at civilisation in world history.
3. Religions gives moralists a platform from which to advertise their sense of right and wrong, creating the concept of guilt which is essential and self-fulfilling.
4. Some religions provide answers to questions that cannot be answered with logic. Lots of people love religion for this reason. Through religion they don't even need to justify their choice. One has to admit that is a very valuable asset.
I have to qualify the above points which may seem cynical. There is no doubt that a great many good deeds have been done in the "name" of Godisms. For example, Christian missionaries were largely responsible for the end of cannibalism in the South Pacific. And the Red Cross has relieved some suffering world wide. But these things could have been achieved without ancient scripture. The fact is that those kinds of perceptions were of their time.
The God religions are not going away in the foreseeable future just because a tiny proportion of humanity among the world's educated urban sophisticates like to poke fun at them, even when deserved. Looking at the state of things today, and the population explosion, I would say it is more likely that Atheism will fizzle out.