Religious Benefits?

[Theland]

Watched Angels & Demons on T,V. and was struck by a line in the script
Actually only watched part of it so don't spoil the ending.
Anyway, the old cardinal says to Tom Hanks, something along the lines of how his church feeds the hungry, gives hope to the despairing etc etc, and then asks, "What does your church do?"
So, I have to agree with those sentiments, even regarding religions I disagree with.
So do you agree with the old cardinal?
Surely logic and reasoning is not simplistic enough to give the certainty that religion brings?

[LazyGun]

@Theland Hows your cat?

"Surely logic and reasoning is not simplistic enough to give the certainty that religion brings?"
Is that what you meant to say? That religion is simplistic, rigid, unbending? admits of no doubt?

Any organisation that offers to help people in need must have a good side to it. But such sentiments and actions are not solely confined to religious organisations, are they? The impulse to help, to offer aid, to feed the needy is a very human one. It does not need nor require religious teachings to activate it.

And many more people will get a lot of comfort from a more realistic view of the world than religion offers. Plus, religion carries an awful lot of negative baggage around with it, which actually outweighs any good that religion can offer.

So no, I disagree with you. I think religion offers more harm than good.

[Theland]

L.G. Sybil is better today but cod liver oil and vets here I come.
Big softee aren't I?
I respect your views, but especially amongst uneducated, third world people, religion, I think, can be packaged up in easy to swallow pieces, and everybody looks for a first cause, because day to day, we see cause and effect. So God becomes very believable and easy to believe.
The prize that then follows is salvation in some form or another.
Logic and reason takes far more effort than a poverty stricken dirt farmer can muster, and religion invites you to be amongst friends, even if some of them are suicide bombers.

[LazyGun]

@ Theland Cats have a way of turning us all into softies :) Tuna in oil sorted my cat out when they had a bout of constipation, many years ago now.

I think you do humanity a disservice when you suggest that dirt farmers find a religious worldview easier. It is only easier because of how intertwined religion is with local cultures. And you know, even the most simple cultures are open to outside influences and change nowadays.

Slowly but surely, inexorably, they are dragged into the 21st century, eyes blinking in the light, teeth bared in a gesture of defiance, with holy book in one hand and bomb in the other - but still their cultures change. Provided we weather the fundamentalist storm, we can all get to the sunny uplands of rationality and reason :)

[pixie373]

You don't have to belong to a church to give to charity, so the comment is irrelevant.

[jomifl]

Theland, /the certainty that religion brings/, which certainty did you have in mind, the christian one? the muslim one? the hindu one? I could go on but hopefully I have made my point.

[Theland]

ANY certainty. I am not talking actual truth here, just an individuals perception of it.

[jomifl]

OK Theland, I guess 'imagined' certainty trumps the boring old 'almost' certainty of reality. The great thing about it is no-one ever finds out that the only certainty is that it is imaginary.

[naomi24]

//Surely logic and reasoning is not simplistic enough to give the certainty that religion brings? //

Theland, you need to expand on that. What 'certainty' does religion bring?

[jomifl]

Naomi, I can think of many 'certainties' that religion brings not least of which is the knowledge that many people do not have a realistic world model, are gullible or are mentally ill. The only uncertainty is deciding which category they belong to.

[birdie1971]

Jomifl - “... the only certainty is that it is imaginary...”

What?!?

Are you telling me that purgatory, transubstantiation, everlasting life, original sin, demons, immaculate conceptions, etc. are all imaginary? Pull the other one...