What is the Purpose of Religion?

[Ken Carman]

While I was posting another thread, I considered a comment made that I read here at V under a thread on Islam: "What do we need Islam for?" (paraphrased)

Let's open it up a bit, beyond even "what do we need religion for," though that would be an interesting sidebar.

What's the overall purpose of religion?

If I had to pick one purpose in my life it might be to organize thoughts in a social setting around belief, faith and society. But I'm a Unitarian, and I realized that definition is more UU than anything else. And I admit my next definition I came up with is more than a bit cynical...

Seems to me the purpose of religion is to restrict our thinking, to prevent us from thinking out of the box. Sometimes this can be noble: like human sacrifices, sometimes NOT. But it does seem to me that religion, collectively, is intended to get us all on the same page... even force us to stay on that page. Not likely to ever happen, but an attempt. The claims that it's conveying what God, Allah or the Great Golem Beaver in the Sky really wants is a bit convenient, don't you think? Maybe true. Most likely, in most cases: not.

Essentially religion is much like any authoritarian form of rule: conform or else. These days it's most likely, at it's worst, to simply eject you from the group... though Jim Jones was not all that far in the past. Used to be if you didn't follow it would get you burned at the stake or your head cut off. That last one still prevails, to a certain extent.

Note: I am referring to collective group actions; not individuals who decide to kill a Gay because he offends their religious sensibilities. Not that I minimize how horrible those, and other, deeds are.

To those who believe: please understand I am not attacking your beliefs, whatever they be. I am referring to the purpose of organized religion.

[Questatement]

Maybe one purpose would be the same as the purpose for forming a committee.

[Jack]

It seems to be a common human desire to want to affiliate, socially and philosophically, with others who share our thoughts and opinions. People organize themselves according to their political beliefs, their favorite sports teams, their hobbies and their religious beliefs. We are social animals and it appears we'll socialize over almost anything on which we agree or have an interest: book reading clubs, boy and girl scouts, dog breed clubs, fraternal organizations, veterans groups, etc. There's even a website dedicated to bringing people together around a common interest called MeetUp. Coming together in groups give us comfort and the knowledge that we aren't alone in our interests. It's also a way to share our knowledge of the subject around which we gather together, to learn more and increase our understanding.

Religion itself plays a role by emphasizing the communal nature of religious faith, encouraging believers to join together in their common belief and in defense against unbelievers and the rest of the ungodly world. There are factions within certain religious disciplines that allow for individual and isolated practices, like monks and mystics, but those are unique cases. The most common way to practice religious belief is as a group of like-minded others.

So it's not unusual or uncharacteristic for people who share a common belief about gods to join together to practice their faith. It's just the application of a very human practice employed in a specific condition.

[ganglier]

The real purpose of religion is to connect with God, to know god. Its not about getting rewards in this temporal world. Its about getting out of this world and into heaven. Conquering death and suffering for all time. It is greatly misunderstood by most, religious quackery is common.

[Layman]

Its about getting out of this world and into heaven.

then why even start in this world?

in my opinion it gives people a purpose for life,,, like the quote from above. At least that's what I think of today's religions.....people are still scared of the possibility of nothing be after,,, of being nothing... and the possible chaos that can happen when realizing that. Other people with the same fears comforting each other (or trying to)

But other than that yeah its just people getting together.

[gospurs]

I think the reason religions started is because man fears what he doesnt understand. Life was a lot scarier a few thousand yrs ago and having someone say they knew all the answers and promising awesome(post-death) rewards must have been a great security blanket from all the death n mystery back then.

That combined with the lust for power mankind has always displayed probably helped form a system where the many(usually poor n ignorant) had to obey the few (rich n powerful) no matter what. u must serve ur master/king sounds alot like u must serve ur god. Just a theory.

[Zeebadee]

These days it's most likely, at it's worst, to simply eject you from the group...

Why would you need to be forced out of a group you don't want to be in??

[ozzie666]

ok lets go back 3000 years, lets say... carthage? a bustling city, full of trade and multiculturalism. this is completely hypothetical, just an example. lets say in the 10th century BC, 40% of the population were of a certain religion, 40% of the population were teetering on the verge of assuming a certain religion, and the rest were completely unsure.

a person of power comes along and says "your god has spoken to me!" and unleashes a well revised story to the masses of his revelations and blah blah blah etc

most this message is simply "god is real. he loves you. there is an afterlife. you are of the true faith so you got nothing to worry about... just so long as you follow these rules"

and thats where the catch is. all of a sudden, allllllllll these people have a reason to believe. this guy who is well off and powerful, and also the owner of the land they inhabit, says "god is real", and you think to yourself "who am i to disagree? everybody else is thinking the same..."

and every single last one of them will play "follow the leader" like sheep. that land owner now controls the masses, because if they dont conform they'll be punished by god in the afterlife, or they'll be punished by god through his disciples, or they'll just be plain old booted out of the city with nowhere to go...

controlling the masses. just one example of "religion and its uses"...

[Zeebadee]

ok lets go back 3000 years, lets say... carthage? a bustling city, full of trade and multiculturalism. this is completely hypothetical, just an example. lets say in the 10th century BC, 40% of the population were of a certain religion, 40% of the population were teetering on the verge of assuming a certain religion, and the rest were completely unsure.

a person of power comes along and says "your god has spoken to me!" and unleashes a well revised story to the masses of his revelations and blah blah blah etc

most this message is simply "god is real. he loves you. there is an afterlife. you are of the true faith so you got nothing to worry about... just so long as you follow these rules"

and thats where the catch is. all of a sudden, allllllllll these people have a reason to believe. this guy who is well off and powerful, and also the owner of the land they inhabit, says "god is real", and you think to yourself "who am i to disagree? everybody else is thinking the same..."

and every single last one of them will play "follow the leader" like sheep. that land owner now controls the masses, because if they dont conform they'll be punished by god in the afterlife, or they'll be punished by god through his disciples, or they'll just be plain old booted out of the city with nowhere to go...

controlling the masses. just one example of "religion and its uses"...

Well, except that Christians were severely persecuted for centuries back in those days. Hardly an incentive to accept Christianity.

[Peter]

A religion is just a bunch of people wishing for the same thing to the same make believe entity.
The uses for religion are countless. Some uses are good and some are bad but they're all based on an untruth.
If truth matters to you, drop religion and face life on your own two feet.

[grandpa]

A religion is just a bunch of people wishing for
the same thing to the same make believe entity.

The uses for religion are countless.

True, because it's really up to the desires of its members. And, for the most part, the "God" entity is a way of explaining what they dont
understand.

In one sense, religion can be used to conform -- like in Iran or Saudi Arabia.
In other ways, it can be rebellious:
"Referring to Koranic evidence, Prof Kamali emphasised that jihad was
the 'inner struggle for self- discipline and a sincere striving for
the acquisition of knowledge'.
However, he admitted that jihad in the military sense could be
interpreted as a defence against aggression.
'In countless places, the Koran ordains fighting tyranny and
suppression of liberties until persecution stops and people are free
to believe and act in accordance with their own conscience,' said the
professor of Islamic law and jurisprudence at the International
Islamic University in Malaysia.
He said some jurists had discussed uprising against an unlawful
government as one of the themes and meaning of jihad."
A jihad to save 'jihad'

Grandpa h.

[gospurs]

That would be a very logical choice in describing the actual history of mankind...

The irony (and tragedy) is that mankind is not a species which requires logic to explain things.
We will believe - a snake told her to eat the fruit, the man lived in a whale, he did his hands like this n the whooole sea opened! Really kids, it happened juuust like that.

The hopeful n gullible expression on the face of a child when he speaks of santa is the same expression a theist has when he speaks of god. Because u must have the intellect of a child to believe the unbelievable.