Which Religion?

[jd_here]

Having been brainwashed by nuns and monks in the catholic religion at school I felt a great weight lifted off my shoulders when I left over 50 years ago. I was then able to choose for myself. Which did I choose? None. Has it done me any harm during the last 50 years? No.

With that background though, I can't completely dismiss the existence of a greater being, even after all those years, however I remain very sceptical and consider myself to be a Born Again Agnostic.

[venator]

Jd_here - your troubles are over - join us in the First Church of Answerbank, and give praise to the all powerful Ab Editor

<[:-))>

[naomi24]

//I can't completely dismiss the existence of a greater being, even after all those years//

Human beings are, by default, atheists. Religion kicks in only when the seed is planted - and if planted in a young mind - as usually happens to us all in one way or another - it takes a helluver lot of weedkiller to shift it completely.

[tiggerblue10]

I was born into a non strict Muslim family, however realised very early on that religion wasn't my thing.

[Huderon]

//Human beings are, by default, atheists.//

bit of a sweeping statement there naomi, given that most, if not all, cultures have some kind of creation myth and that the burial of humans with grave goods, which may be evidence of some form of religious belief, dates back 90,000 years.

[sandyRoe]

Sad, dreadfully sad.

[jd_here]

What is so dreadfully sad Sandy?

[sandyRoe]

All those years you've denied yourself the comfort and solace of the church.

[naomi24]

Huderon, //bit of a sweeping statement there naomi//

Not at all. It's a simple fact of life - and the age of any belief system is irrelevant. Children are unaware that religion exists until someone tells them otherwise. If they were never taught, they would never know, and therefore they would retain the default position that they were born with - atheism - an absence of belief in any god.

[sandyRoe]

"When I was a child I spake as a child..."
An understanding of religion requires maturity.

[jackthehat]

Why should it?

Surely you should be able to wrap yourself in the comfort and benevolence of your loving God from an early age......

You don't need maturity to understand how much your parents love, comfort and protect you.

To have to actively seek to understand religion smacks more of becoming trained into making allowances for its deficiencies, or becoming programmed into not noticing the obvious falws and loopholes.

[jackthehat]

*flaws

[naomi24]

Sandy, Tell that to the people who scar innocent minds with medieval superstition.

[vulcan]

// Human beings are, by default, atheists. Religion kicks in only when the seed is planted - and if planted in a young mind - as usually happens to us all in one way or another - it takes a helluver lot of weedkiller to shift it completely.//
A good simile naomi, I assume the weed in question is the NOTweed, although not necessarily Japanese.

[sandyRoe]

I believe that religion helps some accept their place in the scheme of things. We'll all know loss, grief, and ultimately be food for worms. Religion helps blunt the edge of that pain.
For those it helps, it works. I wouldn't want to impose religiosity on anyone else.

[keyplus90]

Well done, and keep thinking. I am sure one day you would find the truth.

http://www.islam101.com/dawah/newBorn.htm

[mibn2cweus]

Religion is based on the allusion that reality cares, ascribing reality with the purely human attributes of intelligence, purpose and intent, in denial of the fact that we alone are responsible for our own life, well-being and happiness and that we alone have the capacity to care about and for each others existence, abnegating and relegating our own responsibilities to a non-existent entity at the expense of a realisation of our own self-worth incurring an incalculable cost of mutual suffering, continuously reinforced by an ever more justified self-loathing and lack of respect for ourselves and each other.

Religion is a self-imposed curse upon our own humanity and an otherwise realised potential.

[keyplus90]

[jomifl]

Sandy, I am mature and understand religion but it is easy for me, being an atheist ;-)

[jake-the-peg]

I think Humans are very much not naturally atheistic

Firstly pretty much every civilisation in the world developed the notion of a God. I find it very hard to believe that these were all directly connected from a single "Adamic" :c) religion.

Secondly Human inteliigence is based on seeing connections causes and effects - unfortunately that's a bit too keen and it means we often see connections that aren't there - which I suggest is where superstition and religion come from.

Consider the "god Helmet" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_helmet if Persinger's right the feeling of religious experience is down to patterns of activity in the brain.

I suggest humans have a natural tendency to feel experiences of a religious nature and these are a by-product of our intelligence.

A further step allows us to realise that these are not external but internal experience and allows us to lift ourselves out of religious and superstitious naivity

[naomi24]

Keyplus, if you're talking to me, all I can say is for once Mohammed was right, so thank you for the link. I watched a few seconds of your video, but it didn't seem relevant to this subject, so I stopped it.

Jake, //Firstly pretty much every civilisation in the world developed the notion of a God.//

That was Huderon's point, but like his, it's irrelevant. Children aren't aware of that until someone teaches them.

//I suggest humans have a natural tendency to feel experiences of a religious nature and these are a by-product of our intelligence.//

Whilst an innate sense of spirituality may develop in a human being, that does not equate to 'religion' and the notion of gods. The question is if someone had never been exposed to religion in any sense of the word, would that innate sense of spirituality materialise at all, and if it did, could it be considered 'religious'? Since the subject of the experiment would be completely oblivious to the existence of religion, I don't think so.

Similarly, with the 'God Helmet'.

//Persinger reports that at least 80 percent of his participants experience a presence beside them in the room, which ranges from a simple 'sensed presence' to visions of God.//

But these people have all been exposed to religion in some way - we all are - so they can hardly be considered suitable examples. If they hadn't then the concept of 'God' would not be present in their minds. They might experience a 'presence', but they wouldn't think it was God, because for them there would be no such thing.

//Many subjects have reported "mystical experiences and altered states//

Certain drugs can produce the same effects - and again, these people have all, at some time, been exposed to stories of religion and tales of mystical experiences. Hence all these ideas are already present in their minds before the experiment begins.