Does Religion Have a Place in the Future of Humankind?

I happen to agree with your basic premise, that faith and reason are contradictions. I don't think that religion is going away, anywhere in the forseeable future. People are too tied in with magical thinking, and the desire for wish fulfillment, to take the evolutionary leap of thinking for ourselves.

If one looks in the newspapers daily, one can certainly see, on almost every page, that religion is inexorably interwoven in the fabric of the vast majority of society on this earth. Too bad. Some independent thought could go a long way towards achieving world peace!

You are completely right Phoenix, it is such a part of human culture that it could take centuries, maybe even millennia before it is completely abandoned. The fact is that humans want to feel secure, they need a safety net. They need to believe that if they are do good* then everything will be alright, unfortunately, life can't be farther from that idea.

*Their interpretation of the word.

"Lord Of The Flies" is an interesting book on this subject. If you put 100 kids with no religious indoctrination on a desert island, would they come up with a religion?

Interesting point Panzade. I'd like you to deliberate a bit more about this. I'd like to learn where you are coming from since the book could be used as both pro and con arguments.

I see what you mean. Yet a false sense of security is hardly worth it don't you think? Creating deities will not make them secure, just careless.
I agree that religion-given morals were a good starting point, but morals, should evolve along with the people that need them.

I believe the universe is so complex that the need for a comforting belief or religion is inherently human.
I think atheists and agnostics are pretty brave folk.
In the end I'd say religion's most important role is to impart a code of morals for the human race.

Maybe so, but why do many people think that religion is the only path towards morality? Are they saying that there needs to be a fear of punishment and retribution, or people would behave like immoral animals?

Psychologically, it seems that many people are turning to a God as a supreme father figure, who rewards the good people, and punishes the bad ones, just like their fathers did when they were children. It amazes me that people have not matured out of this extremely childish notion.

panzade wrote


Something it has never done nor is capable of doing. Religion is and always has been the element that divides people and sets them against each other. What ever good it may do, and that is questionable. I t has through the ages done infinitely more damage.
As to whether religion has a future. The answer I fear is yes it has as bloody a future as it has a past.
In addition the code of morals is not attributable to religion but necessity.

The way most religious morality has become stagnant is neither healthy nor beneficial for the believers.

hopefully religion will evolve alongside humankind. I've always hated how religion for somepeople is set in stone and can't be changed.

That's a better alternative Almach, but that too, won't happen for a long while. At least I'm pretty sure I won't live to see it.

Au,Never seen you post such a vacuous statement. The Jewish religion is based on moral teachings and so are all the others. Whether religion is divisive or not isn't pertinent to a discussion on the future of religion.

panzade
And you suppose that without it people would be running around like wild animals. Come to think of it some are now doing exactly that because of religion.

I am sorry I believe religion, causes more problems than it solves.

I am not very objective on this subject, as I hold quite a grudge against christianity.

al and erye, I would say that it is happening, but such happenings are still in the minority. An example of this is the organization tikun:

http://www.tikkun.org/

The best way to get the gist of them is to read their core vision (which is unfortunately very, very long.) They actually have members spanning different religions as well as atheist and agnostic members.

Reconstructionist Judaism is clearly moving in that direction as it sees Judaism as an evolving religious civilization, giving tradition a vote, but not a veto, and referring to all of the commandments (Judaism has many more than 10) as folkways. Some of this language has been picked up even outside of Reconstructionism.

I'm sure there must be parallels in other religions, but I could be mistaken.

Dauer

Well, we can hope that religion will be abandoned as so much useless baggage... but it won't. Not for a while anyway.

That was a very interesting site Dauer, it didn't seem hostile like most of the sources that both sides use.

I am at peace with Judaism, if I ever decided that I needed a belief system, I am pretty sure I would study and become Jewish. Yet their idea agrees a bit more with me. Spirituality and religion are not the same thing, and though it is my opinion that most religions are not practical, I do believe in spiritual wellbeing.

Interesting is that the 'core belief' they developed, has a lot in common with my idea for a utopian society. I will read a bit more and get back to you.

erye, cool. I get a huge earthy crunchy hippy vibe from them, like their goal is to just have us all throw down our weapons, run through the fields, affirm each other's beliefs and smile with joy constantly. Michael Lerner, the most involved of the three chairs, actually affiliates with a Jewish movement that gives even more of a hippy vibe:

http://www.aleph.org/principles.html

But what I like about Tikkun is that it's not a movement within a particular religion but rather an all-inclusive network for like-minded individuals. It doesn't matter what someone believes or doesn't believe as long as they hold the same general values. It is probably predominantly Jewish, and it could be suggested that Cornel West is only a token co-chair, but the voices that show up through their organization are from many backgrounds.

Dauer

So far, everyone has been talking about religion with a small r, that is literalist religion that is concerned with morality, belief, and dogma only. There is also religion with a big R—perhaps, better referred to as spirituality—concerned with mystical experience and the mystery of being. This is communicated via myths, a poetry of the universe. Here is a quote by Joseph Campbell that is germane lest we throw the baby out with the bathwater: "The ultimate mystery of being is beyond all categories of thought." Jung said, "Religion is a defense against the experience of god."