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Old 03-14-2006, 12:37 PM
mabelode mabelode is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: England
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Loulabelle
I'm afraid you can't say 'If I don't need it, nor does anyone else'...human beings are all different. We all have different psychological needs. Evidently we do, as a species need these beliefs or they wouldn't exist. I can't think of a culture on this planet that doesn't have some form of spiritual belief system - therefore evidently, humans feel the need to believe something.


My definition of need is evidently different - without religion I do not immediately die, starve, go insane or suffer complete social rejection. so humans do not NEED religion. Individuals may derive some comfort or strength from it, but, still, not a need.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Loulabelle
I have never been Christened and do not subscribe to an awful lot of the Christian belief system, but to say that my life has not been influenced by it would be foolish of me. Therefore, to say I don't need it would also be foolish, as I haven't known life without the presence of religion. It shapes everything from our language, to our calendars, to our landscapes, to our laws - not to mention, art, music, popular culture. Many people would argue that it is our spirituality that separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom, so to wipe it all out as simply being 'bad' we do, I think most would agree to our folly.

I have chosen not to subscribe to any particular organised religion, but to say that religion should cease to exist would lead to the world into chaos. Each individual on their own search for truth...confusion, fear, despair. In order to banish religion, you'd have to banish the human need to search for truth, and to do that would be to banish humanity as we know it.


Much of what you mention is history. In more primitive times when the world was scarcely understood, religion was useful to try to explain why humans were subject to both disaster and great natural benefits.

To say it has influenced our music, language, calendar, etc is true, but so what? We would still have (other versions of) these things, as do other cultures.

I agree that some sort of moral code is a requirement for civilised life, but why not divorce it from spirituality? Civilised cultures (but, note, not all inviduals) naturally default to basic laws like no theft, killing, etc, so this just needs codifying.


Sorry Jax, we are hijacking your thread.
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