Religion: Society’s training wheels?
June 7, 2007 by HannahW
This articles mainly going to focus on Christianity, I know more about Christianity than other religions and I don’t think I should talk about what I don’t know.
Many of the people that frequent this site have a very negative view of religion. I know I’ll receive comments from people that say otherwise but for the most part this is an atheist/agnostic website. I tend to share the idea that on many levels, religion is not vastly helpful to society right now. We don’t get very much from it except for protection for pedophiles and men like Jerry Falwell becoming celebrities when they really shouldn’t be.
But what would our world today be like without religion? Let me elaborate, what would it be like if religion never existed? Would we be a scientific utopia where all people were treated equally, where there was no crime, no poverty or hunger? Would wars have been stopped by now? Or would science be just as corrupt and archaic as religion is now?
My opinion is that religion was a necessary evil to get us where we are today. Without religion, there would be no art, no music, no architecture. . . well no artistry in architecture. Without religion, there would have been no guidance in the very beginning of mankind. I hate typing that sentence, it feels like I’m betraying myself to the Christians that ask me what keeps me from doing wrong if I don’t believe in god.
But its true. In the beginning, (hehehe) man had no real conscience yet, no real common sense, and had to be governed by some force. Thus, religion was invented.
Look at the old laws. There are several which now make no sense. For example, the eating of shellfish or pork, now we have refrigerators and people who test our food for bacteria so that we don’t catch any diseases. But thousands of years ago they did not, and the wrong pork chop could kill you, so the leaders said that Yahweh commanded that these creatures were unclean and should not be eaten.
Even the 10 Commandments, the basis for laws in several societies (and one terrible Charlton Heston movie), were based on the laws of Ancient Egypt, one of the most crime free societies to date (until the immigrants came that is).
Going through history, religion wreaks havoc on the lives of millions. There’s the crusades, the Inquisition, the oppression of women, the constant suppression of science, and the overall ignorance of the masses as a result. But at the same time, churches were the backbones of communities. They opened orphanages, they took in the homeless, the provided shelter and comfort to those that needed it. I’m saying they were perfect (a lot of what was done was done the wrong way: search “The Madelene Sisters”, but in times when charities were almost non-existent and the wealthy basically ignored the poor, the churches were a big help.
But now with secular charities all over and technology to keep us safe and general good sense and the idea of “human decency” built into us by our parents, do we really need religion? I don’t think so. Its time to move on from the training wheels. We can balance on our own now.
Welcome to the site, Hannah; I’m glad to have you contributing. I think your description of this site is pretty accurate, and it is for that reason that I like to act as the resident naysayer; homogeneized opinions tend to sicken me, and it’s truly a boon to any discussion to have assumptions challenged - if the challenges are good, then truth might be found there, if the challenges are bad, then the original point becomes stronger having overcome them.
In that spirit, I would just like to point out that religion does have a place in our society, and I think that for the vast, vast majority is a good and harmless part of their lives. In fact, many people benefit tremendously from the presence of religion - be it having a social network of caring peers at a church, or even “someone to talk to” in prayer, religion plays an important psychological role in many peoples’ lives that ought not to be ignored.
You raise a good point that religion has done a great deal of harm in the world, too. So to has communism, capitalism, currency, land, power, etc. Though it is certainly reasonable to point out the problems religion has caused, it is equally important to be honest with the evidence and accept that nonreligious conflicts have caused great devastation to the world, too.
My personal take is this; religion does much more good in the world than it does evil. The benefit to individuals, families, and communities outweighs the biggotry and zealotry of a few fundamentalists and extremists. This is a pretty contentious claim, however, and I’d be interested to see how people respond to it.
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I’m glad to hear your opinion on this Arete! I always enjoy hearing the other side of the story.
You do have a point that religion has done a lot of good. And I agree that it has. But at the same time, in this day and age, religion tends to prevent growth of the mind. People reject ideas, and outlaw studies based on religion when these things could be incredibly helpful.
I understand that some people need prayer and a god-figure to lean on and to guide them in their lives. I’m not saying these people should leave their faith behind, I just that society should stop leaning on religion. I don’t think religion should have a major stance in government, schools or any other powerful structure. The only thing that has really come from religion in that area in the past 50 years or so is the subjugation of women, gays and scientific ideas. Specifically, abortion rights, gay marriage. and evolution vs intelligent design.
Personal religion is not a problem, the problem is a society based around religion.
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Hi Hannah!
You really had me thinking about this last night, and I even discussed it with my husband. Being raised Roman Catholic I was involved with all of the youth activities as well as church masses and functions. One of the many reasons why I have not only left the church but my whole religion behind is because for me, religion has done much more harm than good. I also think that religion is around to stay because there is so much power and political influence involved, which is too bad, really. I remember when all of that scandal came out about all of the priests molesting alter boys. I told my mom that I was truly embarrassed to be a Catholic at that point. I think that some people involved with the church think that they are above the law of the people, each one claiming that they have the religious right to do whatever they are doing. I also felt that they were being hypocritical about certain things…denying gays and lesbians the right to a commitment while they were molesting underage boys. It’s also too bad that ordinary priests, who truly care about their work, are dragged into this. I’m sorry that I rambled! LOL My main point is that religion will be here for a long time, and it isn’t necessarily because it’s for the good of the people, at least not like it started out to be.
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Hannah: Thanks for clarifying; I think you’re absolutely right about where religion belongs in government - nowhere.
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I sort ofknow how you feel about being embarrassed to be Catholic. When I went to a private Catholic school, it was hard to tell people that, there was always some joke about getting molested or “bad confessions”. It got really annoying. I can’t imagine what it was like for someone actually in the church.
I’m glad to find a religious person agrees with me Arete. I get tired of hearing people say the world would be such a better place if we lived in a more religious society.
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Just to be clear: No one said I was religious, and if they did, they’re mistaken.
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Oh sorry. You mentioned earlier you were acting as resident naysayer and such. I just assumed.
Sorry, no offense meant!
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Hi Hannah! Nice post… I like the training wheels analogy… I think this is in response to some of the other comments…
I believe there is a valid point in terms of some people need a magical sky daddy to help them behave in moral ways or to feel loved, supported, etc. However, god was created by primitive man to fill in the gaps of, and alleviate the fear of, the unknown. By using the concept of god these days to get their needs met… perhaps they are deprived of a more substantive and healthy avenue of finding happiness, support, and a sense of safety in this world.
In other words: the positives of religion are mostly pipe dreams, yet the damage of religion is very real.
Even the quiet, non-political, ever patient christian might be focusing on studying the writings of bronze-age semi-nomadic goatherders… and missing out on learning how to connect with other people and knowledge sources in this world that offer more of value.
I guess it’s easy to accomodate religion because we are all so familiar with it… I believe encouraging religiousness as long as it seems *harmless*, is never harmless… and I cannot imagine an authentic “positive” coming from belief in a myth…
Just my thoughts…
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My first thought:
No… religion is not necessary for art, in fact, it limits it. Why? We came up with religion, we imagined winged beings and flaming chariots and a three-headed dog and people with 4 arms. But everyone is exposed to religion, and in a way it kind of biases art.
Anywho.
Religion’s only purpose I ever found was the most recent one pointed out: Easing the fear of the unknown.
Also, as to the magical sky daddy: Rather than have a magical sky daddy help deranged people, especially since it could send them the other way, let’s do our best to identify and help these people ourselves. Again, religion fails to meet the need that secular styles could.
Religion has not been a driving force in mankind, it is a product of our driving force, we created this massive thing, and we run it, everything comes back to us.
So, I think religion has done no good at all.
Religion is a failure.
Wow. I woke up today thinking I would never rank religion like that, I guess I just never sat down and examined it.
‘Scusi.
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