Religion: hindrance or boon?: Philosophy Forums

Religion: hindrance or boon?
Have we ever really needed religion?

Religion: hindrance or boon?

mpoissant17
Aspirant

Usergroup: Members
Joined: Feb 19, 2009
Location: near

Total Topics: 7
Total Posts: 31

Posted 10/06/09 - 04:58 PM: Subject: Religion: hindrance or boon?	#1
Has AND does religion hinder/ed humanity? Forget about (for this topic) whether a certain (or any) religion is true or not. What I want to know is whether religion as a concept has been a hindrance or a boon placed upon humanity. On one hand it has imprinted within us a set of morals needed to form a stable society but on the other hand through that same methods of producing a foundation for stability religion has also limited human progress. Through fear religion provides us with safety and stability but also limits our creativity and potential. Not only that but society is now able to function without religion since it has established laws and bodies that enforce those laws so that if religion was taken out of the picture morality would still be imprinted within us through the laws and customs of society. So from here it seems to me that at one point in time religion was necessary but now it seems to be of little value to humanity.
"Not to be absolutely certain is, I think, one of the essential things in rationality." Bertrand Russell

180 Proof
kynic

Usergroup: Sponsors
Joined: Apr 27, 2003
Location: NOTHINGlifeNOTHING

Total Topics: 84
Total Posts: 5133

Posted 10/06/09 - 05:39 PM:	#2
mpoissant17 wrote: Has AND does religion hinder/ed humanity? A religion is like a tricycle or abacus: useful until it is outgrown. Many, I think, have outgrown religion but most have not yet (and maybe never will). Social maldevelopment & miseducation are the most conspicuous consequences of the cosmic thumbsucking preached by the world's major, official cults.
The question isn't "Which explanations do I believe?" but rather "Which explanations do I least disbelieve?" Absence of evidence THAT MUST BE THERE (i.e. implied by any claim, concept, or (its) predicates, that affects changes in/to the world) entails evidence of absence. [What cannot be done?[What cannot be hoped?[What cannot be known?]]]

jsidelko
Assistant Professor

Usergroup: Members
Joined: Jun 08, 2009

Total Topics: 30
Total Posts: 268

Posted 10/06/09 - 06:43 PM:	#3
The universal belief in a deity throughout history and the present time suggests to me that it has been a boon to societies but a curse to the individuals who make up these societies. Religion strengthens group conformity by rewarding/punishing its members when they obey or deviate from societal rules. I suppose a strong deity believing society offers more stability to its members who must live anxious/hopeful lives with its prescriptions and proscriptions.
thanatos

atightropewalker
On par with an amoeba.

Usergroup: Members
Joined: Oct 06, 2009

Total Topics: 0
Total Posts: 125

Posted 10/07/09 - 05:38 AM:	#4
As always, it depends how you look at it. In terms of philosophical thought most of what we consider the profound philosophy has come from more secular times - that may of cause be a reflex to the more secular state we live in. Has it benefits? Yes. Has it downsides? Yes Will it always be in this state of flux? Yes. Religion has helped and possibly hasn't helped but given we don't know how the alternatives would have panned out (or would pan out) we certainly cannot comment as to whether it has hindered us.
"An honest religious thinker is like a tightrope walker. He almost looks as though he were walking on nothing but air. His support is the slenderest imaginable. And yet it really is possible to walk on it." - Ludwig Wittgenstein 'It is the duty of the human understanding to understand that there are things which it cannot understand...' - Søren Kierkegaard

ciceronianus
Tenured Poster

Usergroup: Members
Joined: Sep 20, 2008
Location: USA

Total Topics: 11
Total Posts: 1021

Posted 10/07/09 - 06:16 AM:	#5
mpoissant17 wrote: it seems to be of little value to humanity. Rather like a great deal of philosophy.
"Let us not pretend to doubt in philosophy what we do not doubt in our hearts."--C.S. Peirce "There is nothing so absurd but some philosopher has said it."--Marcus Tullius Cicero "Philosophy recovers itself when it ceases to be a device for dealing with the problems of philosophers and becomes a method, cultivated by philosophers, for dealing with the problems of men."--John Dewey

Sorry, you don't have permission to post. Log in, or register if you haven't yet.