benefits of religion.

[joko]

are there any?

can anyone tell me what benefit religion has on our lives - other than simply believing it it.

what practical day to day use is it?

what does it give us that we could not achieve if religion have never existed...
what would change in our lives if it just vanished tomorrow and had happened?

we know its existence is not required to make us good people.
charity would still exist without it.

i cant really think of anything that relies solely on religion for its worth and that would make the earth a worse off place if it wasnt there...

any ideas?

cheers

[Duncer]

Duncer, no doubt that still holds true for some - I'm sure it does - but the question goes beyond that.

Naomi, I'm sure you know by now that we're pretty much on the same page, but religion gave my mother great confort in her later years. I'd spent so much of my life disagreeing with her that I was quite prepared to sit back and watch her derive that small crumb of comfort from an organisation that she had, (in my opinion) given way too much time to in her better years.

Meanwhile, God is dead.

[naomi24]

Can't say I disagree with that.

[Duncer]

I still love you.

[naomi24]

Haaa! You and your blue eyes!! ;o)

[goodlife]

I used to think that I could improve my community through politics, but those efforts proved futile. Now I see that God’s Kingdom is the only solution to mankind’s problems. (Matthew 6:9, 10) I am grateful to Jehovah for showing me how to lead a truly happy life.

Yes,when I look back, I deeply regret that I wasted so much of my early life on me me me. I regret the hurt I caused God and my family. Yet, I am grateful that I survived long enough to return to my senses.

[beso]

@goodlife

Your happy life is one of blissful ignorance built on futile hope.

You and your kind stifle genuine progress.

[atalanta]

Religion was invented by men in order to give men the right and duty of controlling women. A man's worst fear is finding out that "his" child is actually the child of some other man who seduced his wife into adultery. Religion was invented to help men stop women "betraying" them. Everything else is just trimmings. That's also why the major religions all have male gods and male prophets.

[jomifl]

atalanta, I've long had a suspicion that all religion is about sex. All religions seem to be obsessed with it. The penalties for contravening the rules regarding sex seem to be far worse than other comparable misdeeds.

[jomifl]

OK goodlife I was wrong I admit it, your beliefs aren'tbased on your ego, they are based on guilt. 'Tis a pity you cannot find a more socially worthwhile way of expiating your past misdemeanors.

[sandyRoe]

Goodlife, you really shouldn't be ashamed of your past life as a Young Conservative. You must have expiated any guilt by now. It's time to move on.

[Father-Ted]

Northern Ireland is a fine example of the benefits of religion, just think what it would have been like without the help of the christian church.

[beso]

atalanta //A man's worst fear is finding out that "his" child is actually the child of some other man who seduced his wife into adultery. //

Clearly you misunderstand. Everything in the Abrahamic faiths is the fault of the woman.

Women seduce men just by being seen. Rape is the fault of the woman. If she stayed in the house the man would never be subjected to her wicked attractiveness.