NationStates Jolt Archive


Why do people become religious?

Anarchic Antichrists
21-11-2005, 17:30
Ok I would like to make it clear from the start I am not attempting to insult you or your beliefs.
I wonder why people choose to follow religion as it involves complete faith in a supernatural being/path of life to lead which may be meaningless.
I personally think religion helps people to get through life by solving insecurities like "What will happen to me when I die?" then a religion states "follow me and you will be looked after in the next world/life/etc" Also religion can ease grief if someone has died "They are with god now."
What I want to know is whether religion is just the crutch of the insecure or whether there is a better reason for religion.
Dehny
21-11-2005, 17:34
desperation

whether its to feel like theres something else after death or theres a creator

its all desperation to avoid the truth
Corruptropolis
21-11-2005, 17:35
Crutch of the insecure sounds close enough.
The South Islands
21-11-2005, 17:35
I would consider myself religious. But, I'm not really sure what you are asking. Are you asking how people come to believe in any religion?
Frangland
21-11-2005, 17:35
1 or more of the following:

1)They want to find peace

2)They want to assign meaning to life

3)They like the moral code of the religion they choose

4)They believe in hell and don't want to go there and/or they believe in heaven and want to go there

5)They were raised in it, agree with it and have stayed with it

6)They believe in judgment at death, that man is not able to judge himself

7)They're mentally retarded and believe, verbatim, what their parents tell them to
Smunkeeville
21-11-2005, 17:40
Ok I would like to make it clear from the start I am not attempting to insult you or your beliefs.
I wonder why people choose to follow religion as it involves complete faith in a supernatural being/path of life to lead which may be meaningless.
I personally think religion helps people to get through life by solving insecurities like "What will happen to me when I die?" then a religion states "follow me and you will be looked after in the next world/life/etc" Also religion can ease grief if someone has died "They are with god now."
What I want to know is whether religion is just the crutch of the insecure or whether there is a better reason for religion.
so basically you lead a meaningless life now, and then have a meaningless afterlife too?

I would rather have meaning in my life now, and if there is no afterlife then I did my best to live this life to the fullest.
Revasser
21-11-2005, 17:44
Why shouldn't people become religious? Honestly, some people simply feel that there is more to existence than what we are currently able to perceive with the clumsy use of our limited physical senses. For some people, I'm sure it is simply a crutch to asuage some of their fears, and I, personlly, don't see anything wrong with that if it works for them. Assuming this is the universal reason for people becoming religious is narrow-minded and silly, though.

As well ask why people become atheists. So they can strut around with the arrogant belief that everyone is delusional but them and that they and they alone have a good bead on the truth? While I'm sure, for some, that's true, I'm also sure that others' reasons are likely as many and varied as they are for why people become religious.
Silliopolous
21-11-2005, 17:58
I could be totally flip and comment that it is already the age of the lack of personal responsibility, so having an invisble dude to blame everything on is really convenient!

Now if only we could find a way to sue him for all the crap in our lives....


On the other hand, it is also fair to say that belief is a comfort. To be convinced that death is not the end of you? To believe that there is a higher authority to appeal to when life isn't fair? To provide a structured meaning to life?

I can see the appeal.

I can't bring myself to believe, but I can certainly see the appeal of it.
Letila
21-11-2005, 18:37
I think a lot of people are simply raised that way. Most people I know who are religious are so because they were raised in a religious family and that's basically what they know.
Nosas
21-11-2005, 18:41
1 or more of the following:

1)They want to find peace

2)They want to assign meaning to life

3)They like the moral code of the religion they choose

4)They believe in hell and don't want to go there and/or they believe in heaven and want to go there

5)They were raised in it, agree with it and have stayed with it

6)They believe in judgment at death, that man is not able to judge himself

7)They're mentally retarded and believe, verbatim, what their parents tell them to

Actually mentally retarded would make #7 impossible dude. Now you might say gullible, but retarded is illogical.


Ok I would like to make it clear from the start I am not attempting to insult you or your beliefs.
I wonder why people choose to follow religion as it involves complete faith in a supernatural being/path of life to lead which may be meaningless.
I personally think religion helps people to get through life by solving insecurities like "What will happen to me when I die?" then a religion states "follow me and you will be looked after in the next world/life/etc" Also religion can ease grief if someone has died "They are with god now."
What I want to know is whether religion is just the crutch of the insecure or whether there is a better reason for religion.

I don't understand this, " they are with God now"... what if they aren't? What if they were sinners, than they wouldn't be in his God's presence. I mean, it is a strange statement I think.

Religion is They want to find peace in this life.
It is a way to know:
what is the meaning of why we are on this world.
What will we do after we die.
How we should live to the best of our abilities in order to be happy.
How we can find comfort and strength when we are feeling low and not strong.
Who we really are and what is our potential.

For example my religion answers all of these questions. And because people can know these things too if they learn how to pray. (Not everyone does, it isn't as simple as it sounds).
Religion is a way to find others who also know the truth and can help each other in troubles.
Keruvalia
21-11-2005, 18:46
No desparation here and no insecurities, but I am deeply religious. So to the folks who say religion is for the desparate and insecure, I say nuts to that. Yes, in some cases, but not all.

Crutches are nice things, by the way. You break a leg, it's nice to have a crutch to lean on from time to time. So don't go condemning crutches.

Honestly, I wasn't really looking for answers either. I don't really need to know why I'm here or what happens after I die and I'm certainly not afraid of death. I also couldn't give a rats ass if life has any meaning or not. I'm also certainly not the religion of my parents, so there's no real influence there either. I suppose it could be argued that I rebelled against my Atheist father and became religious, but I've already examined that and it can't be true. I also take responsibility for my own actions.

Why am I religious? Because I choose to be. Nothing more or less. I am because it is what feels right for me. That's it. Don't try to read any deeper into that.
Solarea
21-11-2005, 18:46
I could be totally flip and comment that it is already the age of the lack of personal responsibility, so having an invisble dude to blame everything on is really convenient!

Now if only we could find a way to sue him for all the crap in our lives....

That reminds me... There was this one guy maybe a week ago who intended to sue God for some stuff, I don't know what exactly, but the list was pretty long. I think he was from Amsterdam or Austria or Alabama or something. What did happen to that guy?
Kamsaki
21-11-2005, 18:50
This'll be the 3rd time in 3 days I'll have answered this question.

The short answer is that people are sensorily receptive to something that can be reasonably explained as any of God, Natural process, the Universe itself, Community and/or a combination of the above. Religion takes on God/nature/community etc. and "improves" the idea with various notions of otherworldly consequences related to these explanations and thus gains authority in the minds of people to manipulate them socially and politically.

Nothing wrong with God, nothing wrong with people; one is used in order to use the other.
Dogburg II
21-11-2005, 18:52
This is how I became religious.
http://www.subgenius.com/bigfist/pics2/logoart/dobbsgray15x225.GIF
Bolol
21-11-2005, 18:54
I'm not insecure or desperate.

Now that that's cleared up, a very good question Antichrist. I follow religion partly because of how I was raised, however, now that I am a confirmed Catholic, I realized that this is where I belong for the time being.

I believe that there is something out there. That's all the reason I really need. I know there are problems with the Catholic church, but I think it is my duty as a follower to help correct those problems.
Eutrusca
21-11-2005, 18:55
Ok I would like to make it clear from the start I am not attempting to insult you or your beliefs.
I wonder why people choose to follow religion as it involves complete faith in a supernatural being/path of life to lead which may be meaningless.
I personally think religion helps people to get through life by solving insecurities like "What will happen to me when I die?" then a religion states "follow me and you will be looked after in the next world/life/etc" Also religion can ease grief if someone has died "They are with god now."
What I want to know is whether religion is just the crutch of the insecure or whether there is a better reason for religion.
Why do people join clubs? Why do people join political parties? Why do people join [ insert your own phrase here ]. For many, many different reasons, some of them having to do with belief and faith, but many having to do with culture, relationship, hope for benefit of some sort, even "because that's what our family has always been/done."

Some few actually choose to join with a religious community because they made a conscious decision to believe that God exists and that this particular religion knows more about who God is and what s/he wants us to do. These people are, however, rather few and far between in my experience.
Mitethe
21-11-2005, 19:00
"The Opium of the Masses"

The thing is though, to the OP, people don't always 'choose' religion. I imagine it is very seldom that someone is sitting around one day and they say to themselves, I don't feel fulfilled, I am going to research the worlds religions and find one that I identify it and use it as my spiritual crutch.

Most of the time, people are brought up and taught by their parents from very young that a certain faith or path is the right one. Call it brainwashing if you will, but not malicious brainwashing. Though in some cases it can be. I once asked a coworker of mine why he was a Muslim, and he just said to me "La ilaha ill-Allah" ( There is no god but Allah.) It wasnt something he chose, wasnt something he could explain, just something that had always been a part of his life. You grow up believing it, it nurtures you, that faith becomes a part of who you are.

Sometimes, despite the attempts of the parents, the child does not embrace the religion. Children sent to Catholic Schools or raised in strict religion-soaked homes often rebel completely and head the opposite direction. Or sometimes, certain religions are embraced just because they are *not* the one that the parents tried to force on the child. I know a few people who follow the Wiccan way of things, whose parents have been putting christianity on their plates for 10 years. The forbidden fruit is always the most tasty.

For those who do 'choose' religion, sometimes it is to escape something bad in their lives. Its for safety and security, to feel loved by something, to feel needed, to feel special. Usually religion can replace something missing in someone's life, and fill a void. But it requires faith, and trust, and obedience. And most people can do that. Some people are more driven to seek scientific proof, logic, reasoning, intellectual explanations for the ways of things and cannot accept a spiritual answer. To have faith in a 'god' is unthinkable for people like this. And these are the ones who do not choose to embrace religion.
Bolol
21-11-2005, 19:08
Some people are more driven to seek scientific proof, logic, reasoning, intellectual explanations for the ways of things and cannot accept a spiritual answer. To have faith in a 'god' is unthinkable for people like this. And these are the ones who do not choose to embrace religion.

I see scientific exploration as valid as spiritual exploration. Not everything can be explained by science, and not everything can be explained by religion. You need both in harmony.
Frangland
21-11-2005, 19:12
Actually mentally retarded would make #7 impossible dude. Now you might say gullible, but retarded is illogical.


I don't understand this, " they are with God now"... what if they aren't? What if they were sinners, than they wouldn't be in his God's presence. I mean, it is a strange statement I think.

Religion is They want to find peace in this life.
It is a way to know:
what is the meaning of why we are on this world.
What will we do after we die.
How we should live to the best of our abilities in order to be happy.
How we can find comfort and strength when we are feeling low and not strong.
Who we really are and what is our potential.

For example my religion answers all of these questions. And because people can know these things too if they learn how to pray. (Not everyone does, it isn't as simple as it sounds).
Religion is a way to find others who also know the truth and can help each other in troubles.


hehe

i was kidding with 7
Enixx Nest
21-11-2005, 19:25
Some people are more driven to seek scientific proof, logic, reasoning, intellectual explanations for the ways of things and cannot accept a spiritual answer. To have faith in a 'god' is unthinkable for people like this. And these are the ones who do not choose to embrace religion.

Not necessarily. Deism accepts the existence of the divine, but holds that it should be reached through reason and logic, rather than through revelation. That isn't exactly "faith" in the way that most Theists use the term, but, in a few of the more extreme cases, Theistic "faith" means little more than blithely ignoring opposing viewpoints, which is not at all the same thing as simply having strength in your convictions.
The Bloated Goat
21-11-2005, 20:39
Have you even seen a man in perfect health walking around with a cane? He doesn't need it he he just carries it because that's what gentlemen do.(Less so, nowadays, but you get the idea.) Or perhaps he really thinks he needs it.
Keruvalia
21-11-2005, 20:43
Insecurity.

I, and Bolol, have already shown that to be false. Some people may turn to religion for insecurities, but not all of us.

I chose to be religious. Nothing more or less. No parental influence, no peer pressure, no insecurities, no emptiness, no fear of death.
The Sutured Psyche
21-11-2005, 20:55
Ok I would like to make it clear from the start I am not attempting to insult you or your beliefs.
I wonder why people choose to follow religion as it involves complete faith in a supernatural being/path of life to lead which may be meaningless.
I personally think religion helps people to get through life by solving insecurities like "What will happen to me when I die?" then a religion states "follow me and you will be looked after in the next world/life/etc" Also religion can ease grief if someone has died "They are with god now."
What I want to know is whether religion is just the crutch of the insecure or whether there is a better reason for religion.

The obsession with eschatology is mostly a Christian fetish (though theres a few Buddhists and Muslims that share it). Not all religions are about what happens when you die. Indeed, most of the world's religions are more concerned with what you do while you're alive. Some people turn to religion out of desperation or weakness. Even more are religious because they never had a reason to question what they were taught. Then there are the true believers, those individuals who have had an experiance which has put them on a religious path. They are not likely to talk much about it, nor are they likely to look for new converts. Instead, they live their life by a set of rules and practices that gives them some measure of fufillment.

If all you've ever experianced of religion is some stuffy protestant church, with it's dry readings and constant begging, then you're missing out on alot. Ceremony, ritual, experiance, all of these things give those who participate something. It is not quantifiable, but then again, fufillment rarely is.
Liskeinland
21-11-2005, 21:08
For those who do 'choose' religion, sometimes it is to escape something bad in their lives. Its for safety and security, to feel loved by something, to feel needed, to feel special. Usually religion can replace something missing in someone's life, and fill a void. But it requires faith, and trust, and obedience. And most people can do that. Some people are more driven to seek scientific proof, logic, reasoning, intellectual explanations for the ways of things and cannot accept a spiritual answer. To have faith in a 'god' is unthinkable for people like this. And these are the ones who do not choose to embrace religion. Not true of everyone. I don't feel I have anything missing in my life, neither am I averse to seeking knowledge through conventional means.

Anyway. If religion is a crutch, then it's a pretty spiky one. In accepting a religion, you have to submit yourself totally to that religion, and accept things which normally you might not. Normally, that kind of mindset is part of a mental disorder - but it's plainly evident that religious people are no more crazy than anyone else (unless anyone plans to do a Dawkins).
The Sutured Psyche
21-11-2005, 21:09
It is both telling and vaguely depressing that nearly every criticism of religion I see on these boreds (and most of the defenses) is informed only by evangelical christianity. Not every religion in the world is obsessed with death and the servile obediance to authority of all kinds. Not every religion offers so conveniant an out for personal failings as "satan done it." The lack of background in this discussion is appalling. Then again, I guess it shouldn't shock me. One needs only to be marginally less lazy to quote Marx and criticize all faith than to accept whatever one's parents handed to you as law. It takes an individual of drive to actually put forth the effort to obtain, read, comprehend, and judge the major religious literature of one faith, much less a survey of world religions. It takes a curiosity about the world and about human experiance that is sadly lacking in our culture.

93
93/93
Keruvalia
21-11-2005, 21:11
93/93

Oooh! A Thelemite! Neat.
The Sutured Psyche
21-11-2005, 21:18
Oooh! A Thelemite! Neat.


Ahh crap, now I'm just a google search away from the Christers trying to save me, the Atheists calling me crazy, and everyone else wondering if I'm looking at their ass... ;)
Keruvalia
21-11-2005, 21:20
Ahh crap, now I'm just a google search away from the Christers trying to save me, the Atheists calling me crazy, and everyone else wondering if I'm looking at their ass... ;)

Lol! Shit ... sorry ... ummm ... wait ... *nudge* ... aren't Thelemites a Christian branch? *wink wink*
The Sutured Psyche
21-11-2005, 21:24
Lol! Shit ... sorry ... ummm ... wait ... *nudge* ... aren't Thelemites a Christian branch? *wink wink*

Depends on the individual.


Then again, I guess that phrase kinda sums up the sect, huh?. :cool:
Liskeinland
21-11-2005, 21:26
Crowley?
Anarchic Antichrists
22-11-2005, 17:27
7)They're mentally retarded and believe, verbatim, what their parents tell them to

I love you guys
Deep Kimchi
22-11-2005, 18:21
Ok I would like to make it clear from the start I am not attempting to insult you or your beliefs.
I wonder why people choose to follow religion as it involves complete faith in a supernatural being/path of life to lead which may be meaningless.
I personally think religion helps people to get through life by solving insecurities like "What will happen to me when I die?" then a religion states "follow me and you will be looked after in the next world/life/etc" Also religion can ease grief if someone has died "They are with god now."
What I want to know is whether religion is just the crutch of the insecure or whether there is a better reason for religion.

I was an atheist up until the age of 27. It's not possible for me to explain to you the reasons because faith is a purely personal experience that cannot be shared with a cynic.

No, it's not just the crutch of the insecure. I've personally experienced miracles (I don't have any other explanation). So it's working for me. Your mileage may vary.
The Sutured Psyche
22-11-2005, 19:28
I was an atheist up until the age of 27. It's not possible for me to explain to you the reasons because faith is a purely personal experience that cannot be shared with a cynic.

No, it's not just the crutch of the insecure. I've personally experienced miracles (I don't have any other explanation). So it's working for me. Your mileage may vary.


Aww, don't be such a stick in the mud. Who cares if they won't understand? Who cares if they'll ridicule you? Say it loud, say it proud, wear it like a badge of honor. And if anyone decides to jump on you for it, poke em' in the eye!

93
93/93
Mitethe
22-11-2005, 19:41
Regarding the replies --- thats why I said 'some' people --- and 'sometimes' --- offering explanations for different scenarios. There are thousands of different religions or philosophical approaches to knowledge that differ in many, many ways. And I agree, that both religion and sciences are ways of exploration, and both could be the search for truth. But one relies more on faith, and the other more on fact.

Some people have problems accepting faith, they would generally be the type more likely to go for fact. Others distrust science or feel that its explanations are inadequate and are able to put their trust in a higher power or their belief in the divine. These are not absolutes!

And still others mix and match the two. People can be accepting of both, as it should be, as I don't see religion and science as necessary 'conflicting' each other ...they are just different paths.

The basis of religion is faith. The belief in something you have no proof of. I'm willing to acknowledge both sides of that coin. You put faith in science as well. How do you *know* your body is made from dna encoding? Have you seen it yourself under the microscope? No? You read it in a book. Yet people criticize the religious for believing in something that they read in a book, something they believe without experiencing first hand. Same coin.

I think the issue here really is, it comes down to personal choice, and what you choose to put your faith in. For some, it is easy to accept the divine and the sacred. For others, the logical progression of scientific advancement makes more sense. And still others can embrace both.

I guess what irks me is, religious people saying that science is evil. I tell them to stop driving their car, using their coffee pots and refrigerators or even electricity, to live outdoors under the stars away from civilization and all the things that science has built. Or, scientifics who belittle others religious beliefs. (Unless those people are knocking on your door shoving a bible in your face, in which case, belittle away.) People have faith in what they will -- because of the factors discussed before --- upbringing is a large part, but also experiences they have had in life. Science has to accept that its own practicers often must make leaps of faith as well -- and while in the end proof is desired, it isn't always readily available.

Anyone ever read ( or see the movie ) Contact [ Carl Sagan.]. The main character is obssessed with 'Proof', and she is asked by a man about her father who had passed away many years ago "Did you love your father?" and she says "Yes." Then the man says "Prove it." Some things cannot be proven, only felt.

I really don't think that there are rights and wrongs to this --- the original question was 'Why do people become religious' and the answer to that question is, someties, 'because they feel led to. They have an experience. An awakeneing. Or, maybe they were raised in it and never thought about it, accepted it like they accept the sky is blue. Maybe they witnessed someone's transformation and wanted to experience the same. Maybe they were brainwashed by fanatics. Maybe aliens zapped their brains and showed them that there was a god, and he was an alien. I mean, who knows why people do what they do? Why do you still wear the pair of socks with the big hole in them? 'Just cause ;)
Anarchic Christians
22-11-2005, 19:44
Aww, don't be such a stick in the mud. Who cares if they won't understand? Who cares if they'll ridicule you? Say it loud, say it proud, wear it like a badge of honor. And if anyone decides to jump on you for it, poke em' in the eye!

93
93/93

If Kimichi's experiences are anything like mine then it's a right bugger to put it into words.

I was brought up Christian then drifted away as I got older. Recently (about 18 months ago) I went to a youth weekend and when I came back I knew I was religious, that I believed. it may have been a crutch back then but it isn't now believe you me.
The Sutured Psyche
22-11-2005, 22:36
If Kimichi's experiences are anything like mine then it's a right bugger to put it into words.

I was brought up Christian then drifted away as I got older. Recently (about 18 months ago) I went to a youth weekend and when I came back I knew I was religious, that I believed. it may have been a crutch back then but it isn't now believe you me.


I know it can be hard, but it is important to try. Few people slide slowly into religion, it doesn't just happen. Every single person I have spoken with who had had a religious experiance can, if probed, point to a single moment, an epiphany. The moment itself might be hard to explain, might be difficult to put into words that don't sound crazy, but it is important to try. If you keep trying, you might eventually understand it, if you understand it, you might be able to seek it, to repeat it.
Mirkana
22-11-2005, 23:09
I was raised in a Reform Jewish household. Since then I have voluntarily taken on additional customs - I spontaneously stopped eating shrimp, despite the fact that I quite like shrimp. If anything, my mom has been questioning my motives, as I go to an Orthodox high school (and have learned customs I never heard of before).

I also distinctly remembered taking on the "no idols/G-d is One" bit with gusto. On a history exam after studying Babylonian myths, I summarised the gruesome death of Tiamat as "plenty of polytheistic gore". I later dropped out of that school for unrelated reasons, so I don't know what my teacher thought.
Sumamba Buwhan
22-11-2005, 23:14
I was never religious - my parents and grandparents tried their best to instill religion in me but I found myself to be an atheist anyway.

I only came to believe in an intelligent universe after it "spoke" to me by flooding me with a sense of unity with all things and helped me to find the deepest peace and greatest amount of joy I have ever felt in my life. Since that time I have had many more contacts with the infinite knowledgebase.

I would never accept a religion but I am able to take wisdom from religious teachings and apply it to my own life.
Snorklenork
23-11-2005, 05:12
I remember reading there is some evidence that certain people are genetically more prone to being religious/believing in something big. How they established this I'm not sure, and I'm not entirely convinced of the argument (since I can only remember that part of it). But nontheless, it may explain why some people aren't and some people are. They said that during times of high religiousity, the less prone probably got around by going through the motions of, say praying, without actually believing it.

If it's correct, then it seems I am just not prone to religion. It's not been in my family on either side much. Even my great grandparents, ostensibly being religious (on one side, on the other side they were atheistic communists), never seemed to care much about it.

I'm some way between an atheist and an agnostic. I'm agnostic in that I accept that there may be a god or something like that, but I'm an atheist in that, without evidence I don't believe. I think some people call them weak atheists.

I don't really buy into the arguments that say that religious people are less factual. I mean, obviously they're not basing their faith on an external observation (or not likely to be), but I have known people who were religious that were certainly more logical than I am.

I've sometimes felt moments of profundity (mostly when I was younger, now I'm older I don't seem to have them) where everything seemed important and right, but I put that down to something going on in my brain and I don't extrapolate it to the outside world.
PasturePastry
23-11-2005, 06:38
I would say the one thing that causes people to take up a religion when they have no particular religious leanings is desperation. When life is obviously headed in the wrong direction, a serious paradigm shift is needed, from "I need to understand before I can believe" to "I will understand once I believe".

Practicing a religion is no more nonsensical than driving a car. People see others driving cars and going places, so they get in a car, turn the key, and start driving. You don't see many people staring in a car saying "I'm not driving that thing anywhere until I understand the mechanics of all the systems involved."

What causes pain and suffering in the world is doubt. Religion is a way of removing that.
Megaloria
23-11-2005, 06:40
To avoid being eaten by their all-powerful idols.
Colodia
23-11-2005, 06:43
Ok I would like to make it clear from the start I am not attempting to insult you or your beliefs.
I wonder why people choose to follow religion as it involves complete faith in a supernatural being/path of life to lead which may be meaningless.
I personally think religion helps people to get through life by solving insecurities like "What will happen to me when I die?" then a religion states "follow me and you will be looked after in the next world/life/etc" Also religion can ease grief if someone has died "They are with god now."
What I want to know is whether religion is just the crutch of the insecure or whether there is a better reason for religion.
Not really. I don't know what'll happen to me after I die despite believing in God (Despite what others say about everyone who believes in God, I do not seek direction or truth, I seek what I aim to make myself), because...honestly, does anyone 100% know? That's a negative. No atheist, Christian, Jew, Muslim, or Commie knows what'll happen after death UNTIL they die. What happens after that is...uh...the final frontier I guess.


EDIT: Desperation? Oh yeah I'm oh so depserate. HEY I THINK I'LL BELIEVE IN THE G-MAN NOW! Obviously I'm going insane already and my life's fucked, why the hell not?
Sylvestia
23-11-2005, 10:31
I believe in reincarnation and that belief is independant from my relationship with the gods. As the author Terry Pratchett stated, what happens to you when you die is what you believe happens to you. So as far as i'd go you don't need a religion for the 'afterlife'. So if you're a very devout Christian but you believe you're going to go to Hell, then get your asbestos pants on.

The fact that i am convinced i'm going to be reborn is not a comforting thought i can tell you... i really don't want to come back again, next time might be alright sure, but if you keep coming back then one day you'll be there to witness the end of the world. I'd rather just die and cease to exist completely in any form, it'd be safer.

Why do i follow gods though? Because they can help my life to be a little more cushy than it would be without them. The joy of paganism is that it's a bargaining relationship, 'i'll give you an offering of incense and some wine if you'll help me; with a good idea for this book i'm writing/make the train\bus on time/make sure i can avoid person X/make sure i see person Y.' etc.

If those things happen (perhaps merely by coincidence you might say, although looking at how remarkable some of the things that have happened when i've asked for them have come about, i'd beg to differ) then you carry on with the god. If nothing happens and they ignore you, you move onto another god. The ancients used to go one further and actually curse the gods that had ignored them. If they really hack you off you can threaten to go atheist.

If you hack them off by promising them something but you do not keep the promise and they've done their side of the bargin, then they can make your life uncomfortable.

So why am i religious? Because i find it to my advantage to be so.
Baran-Duine
23-11-2005, 10:48
No desparation here and no insecurities, but I am deeply religious. So to the folks who say religion is for the desparate and insecure, I say nuts to that. Yes, in some cases, but not all.

Crutches are nice things, by the way. You break a leg, it's nice to have a crutch to lean on from time to time. So don't go condemning crutches.

Honestly, I wasn't really looking for answers either. I don't really need to know why I'm here or what happens after I die and I'm certainly not afraid of death. I also couldn't give a rats ass if life has any meaning or not. I'm also certainly not the religion of my parents, so there's no real influence there either. I suppose it could be argued that I rebelled against my Atheist father and became religious, but I've already examined that and it can't be true. I also take responsibility for my own actions.

Why am I religious? Because I choose to be. Nothing more or less. I am because it is what feels right for me. That's it. Don't try to read any deeper into that.
Now that's an answer that I can respect