1. Does Religion Exist? "What do you think is the function of religion?" But is it possible that the religious priming might have activated something else—moral intuition, or death-related concerns? But we use the word faith because it gives strength to the concept as … This approach is laudable for getting us to recognize that there can be hidden psychological motives behind religion and religious beliefs, but his arguments from analogy are weak and too often his position is circular. Since Christianity is currently the world’s most popular religion, I’ll slant this article towards Christianity’s ubiquitous failings. Judaism is the world’s oldest monotheistic religion, dating back nearly 4,000 years. It seems that religion exists as a belief system to help people explain events that would otherwise be unexplainable. E.B. It seems that is why Bernie Sanders made headlines a few weeks ago. Since its explanations are true instead of false, they should be more satisfying, and religion should, logically, wither away. If we are in the woods and see a dark shape that might be a bear or a rock, it is smart to “see” a bear. Until science can come up with first causes and it's origin, God is still the only viable solution. Religion is a pervasive and significant cultural phenomenon, so people who study culture and human nature have sought to explain the nature of religion, the nature of religious beliefs, and the reasons why religions exist in the first place. The religious sphere thus has a special status above and beyond regular life. For me, religion forces you to believe in all It even stated that men believed in some kind of life after death and this tendency instinctively suggest that natural phenomenon happen for a purpose. If we are mistaken, we lose little; if we are right, we survive. asking why religion still exists is like asking why the coin still has two sides. This is why philosophy cannot answer the question “Does God exist?” with either an affirmative or a negative reply … “There is a God”, though it appears to be in the indicative mood, is an expression of faith. Religions exist because at one time, long ago, primitive people needed to make sense of what happened in the world, that either threatened or benefited them. After 1,000 words I am no closer to an answer because it's too big an issue - and I know that's sort of a copout. Instead think tanks should make better rules and regulations to follow for bettermint same as business rules, traffic rules. How to live? Religion divides insiders from outsiders. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Tylor and Frazer - Religion Is Systematized Animism and Magic, Sigmund Freud - Religion Is Mass Neurosis, Emile Durkheim - Religion Is a Means of Social Organization, Karl Marx - Religion Is the Opiate of the Masses, Mircea Eliade - Religion Is a Focus on the Sacred, Stewart Elliot Guthrie - Religion Is Anthropomorphization Gone Awry, E.E. One idea is that, as humans evolved from small hunter-gatherer tribes into large agrarian cultures, our ancestors needed to encourage cooperation and tolerance among relative strangers. It can be challenging to effectively argue that God does not exist. The scientists take this as strong evidence for the replenishing effect of religion on self-discipline. A team of psychological scientists at Queen’s University, Ontario, is now offering a novel idea about the origin of religion, and what’s more they’re delivering some preliminary scientific evidence to support their reasoning. Question: "Why can’t religions coexist peacefully?" Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ You will also find Mohammed the Prophet was a ‘judge’ as his prime job. - "/his/ - History & Humanities" is 4chan's board for discussing and debating history. Click to expand... Outside of origins science does a sufficient job of explaining why. Religion was a tool for communal living. Recent research has demonstrated that our cognitive power—in the form of glucose, the brain’s fuel—is limited. Jesus was called a traitor, obviously, he created a new law which was against Roman laws. For instance, people wore cross. Religion is mans pathetic attempt at reaching God on their own terms and without Jesus Christ. This theory basically states that it is in our nature to be religious due to our evolution as a species. Caring for Loved Ones the Top Priority for People Worldwide. science does the who/what/when/where, philosophy and religion are left with the why. Its followers practice it in accordance with the fundamental and unchangeable past practices. Emile Durkheim is responsible for the development of sociology and wrote that “...religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden.” His focus was the importance of the concept of the “sacred” and its relevance to the welfare of the community. Researchers conducted worldwide studies revealed similar findings. The thing is, I think we really need that feeling of belonging. An anthropologist who describes culture as a system of symbols and actions which convey meaning, Clifford Geertz treats religion as a vital component of cultural meanings. My question is this: why does religion NEED to exist? If religion is inexplicable, then significant aspects of human behavior, belief, and motivation are also inexplicable. Why does religion still exist when science has proven it wrong? The impossible task was included to test their persistence against great difficulty—another measure of self-control. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Because people needed a way to explain thunder then others used it to control. Religion also has an important function, which does not explain directly why we are religious, but is indirectly related to the origins of religious behavior: religion, at least in … Maybe we shouldn’t try to argue that any one of them is “right” and instead recognize that religion is a complex human institution. Here are two reasons why Christians should not try to separate religion and politics (even though they should separate church and state), followed by two answers to two common objections. Asked by Wiki User 53 54 55 See Answer Top Answer Wiki User Answered 2011-09-14 00:05:09 Belief and faith are inherent to human beings since the … They took over the place held by philosophy thus far and laid claim to God analysis. Florida Southern College. Start at the bottom: This region boasts the only state in the world - Saudi Arabia - that the report flat-out describes as a place where "Freedom of Religion does not exist." March 9, 2011 vorjack Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! The Government prohibits the public practice of other religions." So people thought of common rules and laws. Now its more of a coping mechanism for a lot of people or a reason for people to live their lives. But that is social history. It’s very difficult, requiring mental exertion and self-control. Lv 7. But those with religion on their minds were statistically no different than those with morality on their minds. For example, one king might say all food is common for the village. None has been empirically tested. We also share information about your use of our site with our analytics partners. A kid moving from one king to the other might end up getting beheaded! This inadequately addresses the social aspect of religion, though, depicting religion and animism are purely intellectual moves. The real question is whether Jehovah, Zeus, Ra, Krishna, or any gods of any religion exist, and if so, which gods? The right religion is simply this: to love our Creator and all the people He created. Actually, there is a reason why totally rational humans living in a world of science and knowledge still believe in gods. But that’s just one idea. Christianity, for example, was just one of many religious movements that … Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. God filled in the gaps to many things that our ancestors did not understand. It’s also used as a source of comfort, i.e. Religion then—along with the belief in a moralizing God—was a cultural adaptation to … Throughout time, it may have proved beneficial for humans as a species to be religious, especially for particular groups to practice the same religion. Answer: It has often been said that more wars have been fought in the name of religion than anything else. A hundred years or so That’s why all religions espouse laws of life. All three of these theories provide an interesting insight as to why religion and … If you legitimately believe that all people must rely on a 2,000-year-old book to be a good person and lead a good life, then I honestly don’t know what to tell you. Why does religion exist? Most people around the world believe that God exists. Then they asked all the volunteers (using a ruse) to drink an unsavory mix of OJ and vinegar, one ounce at a time. Law kept changing with every king. In the first place, you must understand that what we call faith is really hope. This is the perspective that religion gives people a sense of empowerment. Rejecting most anthropological, psychological, and sociological explanations of religion, E.E. Why do you think religion means so much to some people and groups, and not to others? Hinduism is a compilation of many traditions and philosophies and is considered by many scholars to be the world’s oldest religion, dating back more than 4,000 years. He argues that religion carries symbols which establish especially powerful moods or feelings, help explain human existence by giving it an ultimate meaning, and purport to connect us to a reality that is “more real” than what we see every day. Simplistic as these purported explanations may be, though, they all offer helpful insights which can bring us a little closer to understanding what religion is all about. Notably, almost a third of the volunteers in these studies were self-defined atheists or agnostics, suggesting that these robust effects have little or nothing to do with the suggestibility of the most devout. What religion does is create a ‘tribe’ of people by giving them Dogma (We all believe in Jesus), Rituals (communion, for example), and community (a church). They were told, further, that they could either return the next day and be paid $5, or come back in a week and get $6. Infidel, heathen, heretic. 1 0 Lv 4 According to Sigmund Freud, religion is a mass neurosis and exists as a response to deep emotional conflicts and weaknesses. Which of these is the “right” explanation? So at this point, there were four groups: Depleted; depleted but religiously primed; undepleted controls; and religiously primed controls. We interpret ambiguous information as whatever matters most to survival, which means seeing living beings. We have to learn that all human being at same importance, all need love and care. And as predicted, those with religion on their mind endured longer at the unpleasant task. Self-control is costly, consuming a lot of mental resources. Under this argument, any religion that does endure has to offer its adherents tangible benefits. Here, then, are some of the principle means of explaining why religion exists: as an explanation for what we don’t understand; as a psychological reaction to our lives and surroundings; as an expression of social needs; as a tool of the status quo to keep some people in power and others out; as a focus upon supernatural and “sacred” aspects of our lives; and as an evolutionary strategy for survival. Researcher Kevin Rounding and his colleagues are arguing that the primary purpose of religious belief is to enhance the basic cognitive process of self-control, which in turn promotes any number of valuable social behaviors. They tested this theory in four fairly simple experiments, using classic measures of self-control. The main reason religions exist is the big WHY. While some doubt God, many humans throughout different times, cultures, and regions acknowledged the existence of a higher power. We need to Dealing with life. Or are you wondering why some cultures adopt a 'religion' whereas other cultures adopt a 'philosophy'? Eliade only focuses on “timeless forms” of ideas which he says keep recurring in religions all over the world, but in doing so he ignores their specific historical contexts or dismisses them as irrelevant. There are many others—or make up your own. Every king made his own laws. The hundreds of pages in every religion can be boiled down to two things: do good and don't do evil. It also explains why polity and religion went together in the early days. 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