Thoughts on Religion
There are two types of people: those who believe in God, and those who don't. (Well, at least until someone makes this issue non-binary.) Religiosity no doubt has had a significant impact on the lifestyles and morals of people all over the world. I just want to express my thoughts on the nature of religion and its role in society.
Over the course of the past few decades, religion has generally gone into decline, along with the rise of science. I think part of the reason is that people now have more reliable, trustworthy answers; they have discovered aspects of life previously thought to be supernatural: how and why planets rotate about the sun, what life is, why people get sick, how to cure disease, what causes lightning, among many others. In addition, people have challenged the nature of religion, which is a sensible thing to do. They take a logical perspective, claiming that there is no scientific evidence that God exists. The opposition to this claim is weak, if even present. There simply isn't an iota of evidence that Jupiter throws down lightning bolts when he is angry or that our fate is in the hands of God or the gods. Biblical claims have been proven false, such as the Genesis story. In today's data-driven society, such baseless claims would have little standing. But religion still persists. Even when riding down the street, I see churches still standing. So why is that? Do religious people utterly reject the concept of religion?
I can't speak for all religious people, but I consider myself to be religious. To me, religion is a mentality rather than something that should be accepted for fact. Religion is a tool that we use to get through hardships, to become better people, and instill values in ourselves. God is our way of introspection, of individually or collectively expressing our positive emotions. God is an eternally loving abstraction that individuals use to reciprocate their feelings of positivity and passion, from which they derive satisfaction. As for myself, praying makes me feel happy and more satisfied. Perhaps religion is little more than a glorified imaginary friend we all have.
The next aspect of religion I'd like to consider is restrictions it places upon lifestyle, as are present in several religions, including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, among others. For example, Hinduism forbids one to look up during a lunar eclipse. Speculating, it seems evident that self-discipline is a common theme among several religions, which goes hand in hand with perseverance and determination to reach one's goals.
In summary, I believe that while the existence of God is unsupported by current human knowledge, the concept of religion is a means to achieve improvement of oneself and one's values, in addition to a mood booster.
Over the course of the past few decades, religion has generally gone into decline, along with the rise of science. I think part of the reason is that people now have more reliable, trustworthy answers; they have discovered aspects of life previously thought to be supernatural: how and why planets rotate about the sun, what life is, why people get sick, how to cure disease, what causes lightning, among many others. In addition, people have challenged the nature of religion, which is a sensible thing to do. They take a logical perspective, claiming that there is no scientific evidence that God exists. The opposition to this claim is weak, if even present. There simply isn't an iota of evidence that Jupiter throws down lightning bolts when he is angry or that our fate is in the hands of God or the gods. Biblical claims have been proven false, such as the Genesis story. In today's data-driven society, such baseless claims would have little standing. But religion still persists. Even when riding down the street, I see churches still standing. So why is that? Do religious people utterly reject the concept of religion?
I can't speak for all religious people, but I consider myself to be religious. To me, religion is a mentality rather than something that should be accepted for fact. Religion is a tool that we use to get through hardships, to become better people, and instill values in ourselves. God is our way of introspection, of individually or collectively expressing our positive emotions. God is an eternally loving abstraction that individuals use to reciprocate their feelings of positivity and passion, from which they derive satisfaction. As for myself, praying makes me feel happy and more satisfied. Perhaps religion is little more than a glorified imaginary friend we all have.
The next aspect of religion I'd like to consider is restrictions it places upon lifestyle, as are present in several religions, including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, among others. For example, Hinduism forbids one to look up during a lunar eclipse. Speculating, it seems evident that self-discipline is a common theme among several religions, which goes hand in hand with perseverance and determination to reach one's goals.
In summary, I believe that while the existence of God is unsupported by current human knowledge, the concept of religion is a means to achieve improvement of oneself and one's values, in addition to a mood booster.
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