Religion..is It There Because It Actually Helps People

[phleb]

in need or do we just rely on it when we have no other support? I'm not against religion. I'm just curious as to what other people think. I have seen a lot of women/men turn to islam, have they actually seen any benefit. Please don't be arguing over this question. I respect people that are religious and I also respect those that aren't.

[naomi24]

Dreadful, gness, just dreadful. Nothing less than child abuse.

[gness]

Naomi....the power that religion gives....and I can only speak with experience about the Catholic Church...is nothing short of abuse...in my opinion.

When I cleared my Mum's house last year I brought only one thing to keep. It's the plaster statue of the Virgin Mary that I was so often made to kneel beneath to pray for forgiveness.
I was going to drop it from the bedroom window....but it stands in the garden....just in case I ever forget how to treat a child with love and respect.....and not scare the living daylights out of them.....☺

[naomi24]

You won't. I hope the birds poo on it. That's all it's fit for. ;o)

[gness]

I don't think I will forget, Naomi.....and I have just noticed that Mary is standing under a bird feeder.....my subconscious did that I guess...☺

[Exmothian]

The catholic church's assertion that you will be punished in the "afterlife" is just one more case of abuse that it has been, and is still, guilty of using to con the living.
Our brain is run by electrical charges generated by our living being.... When we die, the lights go out! That's it, end of!

[joko]

i wonder if perhaps it started sort of in the same way as santa and the tooth fairy and the bogey man started ...something you tell the kids to make them feel better?
because theyre too young to understand the truth - they dont understand why mummy or daddy or nanna etc etc aren't coming home any more and it would seem bad to tell them that quite simply they died (explain that) and they are now in a box in the ground and will rot.
far nicer to tell them they have gone up in the sky to heaven and are looking down on them ... (adding that extra bit of discipline - that they are always being watched)

and really they were supposed to be told the truth when they got a bit older, old enough to deal with it... but it didnt quite work that way, people clung to it, young adults didnt react very well ... so it stuck... :)

i was told for 3 years, that we couldnt visit my nan -as we had always done weekly - because she had 'gone to the shops' ...

[modeller]

// ask this because I was reading kate mccans book and she turned to religion for comfort, it didn't help bring madeliene back,//
She didn't 'turn ' to religion ! She was already a dedicated RC !

[idiosyncrasy]

Why do people turn to religion? Well maybe because we were made with the desire to live for ever and to that end, many search for the reason why we live and die. After all, if we were meant to live on and on, then why do we die? For some people having a religion to turn to gives them hope that there is something more.

[beso]

Naomi //They're not only afraid of death, they're afraid of being punished for perceived sins committed in life.//

Even if the only thing they do "wrong" is fail to worship God.

[naomi24]

Beso, indeed.

idiosyncrasy, // After all, if we were meant to live on and on, ........//

Who says were meant to live on and on? Really, who?

[venator]

Every religion I can think of involves handing over money, possessions or power to a heirarchy. There are promises of various sorts, which are not capable of proof.

L Ron Hubbard gave up writing quite decent Science Fiction to invent Scientology - he's done very nicely.

Sadly, I've not made anything out of the First Church of Answerbank ( click on red letters Ab Editor ).