all religion is not pointless. it provides a basis for ritual, history and order in peoples lives. there are many more people practicing religion loosely than those who are strict followers of a specific religion.
therefore, it might be better be more specific, instead of dismissing people who are, by nature, filled with a certain amount of legitimate beleifs and faith.
There are many reasons to doubt the contentions of the Abrahamic religions. Their notions about the nature of the universe, and about God certainly beggar the imagination of any thoughtful person. To believe in the literal truth of the various holy writ of these religions takes a truly great faith. There are contradictions between the three primary branches of Abrahamic religions that make them largely incompatible. All three believe that they alone hold a special place in the heart of God, and only their own interpretation of God is true. All believe in miracles, the suspension of the laws of physics, as God tinkers with nature on behalf of his chosen. All three are fatalistic, though they all insist that humanity has free will. All three regard God as a person, with a personality similar to that of human beings.
All in all, its a wonder that anyone can choke down the dogma of any of these variants of Abrahamic belief. However, the three Abraahmic main branches account for the great majority of religious believers in the modern world. They got that way by insisting that faith always trumps reason, and that to deviate from the doctrine is to be damned to an eternity of suffering apart from God. They are all fundamentally coercive, though they all deny it. Judaism may be the least coercive in that most believers are born into the faith, and that the Jews have spent over a thousand years as targets of hatred by Christians and Muslims. "We don't hate the Jews" echos from every church and mosque, but in the streets pogroms and murder are the sport of Christians and Muslims.
So ... if you don't believe in Abrahamic religion, dump it. There are other systems of belief and religion. Some, perhaps most, of those systems also have faults and weaknesses. The Abrahamic religions have done a pretty good job of destroying other religions, but some do remain. From the Hindu roots there is Jain, and Buddhism. From Shamanistic roots, there is Shinto, the religions of American Indians of North America, and the religions of less developed and more isolated tribes elsewhere. Confucism and Taoism are both alive and well. Many who abandon Christianity adopt some hybrid such as Santaria, or Wicca. New Age faiths also claim a number of adherents who believe in UFOs, Atlantis and the Lost Continent of Mu, the power of crystals, Psychic powers and Spiritualism. And those are just a sampling of the religions out there who reject the Abrahamic approach to God and understanding the nature of the universe and reality.
The power of religion is that it provides a framework for understanding the nature of reality and how the universe is structured. It often deals with the "Why" of things, and that is something that humans are constantly asking. Why do we suffer? Why do the stars shine? Why do the monsoons regularly come to water our crops. Why do we dream? Why are some forms of behavior taboos? Often the answers to these sort of questions form the structures on which social groups depend for their very existence. Think of much the social structures of Israel, the "Islamic countries", and the Christian West depend upon their own version of Abrahamic faith. Would India be India if Hinduism became a dead-letter? Though the PRC has tried very hard to erase Confucism, Taoism and Buddhism, those religions are so much a part of the Chinese social norms that once all government restraint is removed, those religions would soon be "back in business". For most people, it is really hard to escape religion entirely.
If you live in the developed Western World, you have opportunities of changing your beliefs that are almost unheard of elsewhere in the world. You can change your religion with relatively little problem. You won't be stoned, imprisoned, or exiled if you scoff at the dominant religion. The days when "free thinkers" were condemned to the stake are long since gone. It is even respectable to deny having any "religion" at all. Some make a "religion" of making money, or exploring the universe via physics and mathematics. Some adopt a philosophy that has little need for "religion": Hedonism seems to be a special favorite these days.
Today, in the Western World, there isn't any terribly good reason not to search the possibilities and pick the one that suits you best.
BTW, If you didn't know and are interested, I'm a Buddhist.
http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22959&highlight=
This topic has pretty much been covered, in fact right down to the poll question. Check it out donohue.
Re: Why all religion is pointless
donohue100 wrote:I personally can not understand why anyone still believes in god, for me he is about as real as Santa Claus is today.
1.God was supposed to be in the sky we have flown through the sky into outer space no god there.
2. Science has provided an explanation for most phenomenon we find around us.
3. Most of what was said in the bible has been proved wrong, haha such as fossils being millions of years old, which completely throws the bibles storys out of the window.
Donohue, if you need a proof, let alone a scientific one, that God exists, you are not ready to know Him.
Seek wisdom, seek purpose.
Ask a lot of "why?". That is the most important question there is.
Asherman - you've been writing some great posts lately - or maybe I just started seeing them.
Cheers.
Jer,
Thank you for the kind words. You can read my many, and often lengthy posts on a variety of topics by clicking on my name that appears with each posting.
What do you mean, Santa Claus is not real
donohue
The problem is that religion is not "pointless". On the contrary it purports to provide "a purpose" for what may well be a "pointless existence".
This particular quest for rationality has of course inspired some of the most admirable qualities of humanity, but on balance these are overshadowed by some of the most despicable.
Whether religion is pointless or not is to me irrelevant. The problem I have with it is the poison , divisiveness and hatred it spreads. It preaches love thy neighbor and brotherhood but in reality does just the opposite.
That is my exact objection to "National Pride".
Au,
Not all religions deserve to be tarred with the same brush used on the Abrahamic group. Even within those there are sects that could hardly be said to fit the description. The Quakers aren't exactly known for their support of spreading hatred willy-nilly. Outside the Abrahamic religions there are even better examples of tolerance. The Jains, Buddhists, and Taoists all have long histories of tolerance and general good-will toward those of other religious faiths. Those broad generalities can be very misleading.
Asherman
As usual you are correct. My remarks are relative to the Abrahamic religions being the only ones I have familiarity with. They are all branches of the same tree.
I hope to whatever God may be that I never meet such a Catholic as those you describe.
Is no one else upset about the Santa Claus comment?
Santa Claus? That fat, belly-laughing moron? F*ck him.
Nothing for Christmas for you this year Kicky!!!
I used to like santa, but last year he decided not to visit my house. Santa must be punished!
If I see that fat bastard out on my roof this year I'm gonna pump his ass full of buckshot~!
Santa: "Arrgh kiddies, come up and sit on my lap. Ooops, do I smell like rum again?"
Satan: "Arrgh kiddies, come up and sit on my lap. Ooops, do I smell like rum again?"
