What is the purpose of religion

[dio9]

I hope to learn something here, what you think.
My thought is the purpose of religion is to bring ones own life into harmony with the will of God. Agree or disagree .
Curious what you think , believer and atheist .

[William]

[Replying to post 39 by dio9]

but we really can't depend on peoples behavior as the purpose , that's only an objective or goal .

I think the 'objective or goal' can be seen as part of the outward manifestation of purposefulness.

It was the behavior of Christians Nietzsche observed which caused him to declare god was dead.

If that was the case, then he made a common mistake in assuming the Christian idea of GOD was the correct one.

It's not what expression religion takes, religion only points the way.

Points the way to what?

My roots are Catholic Christian but I think Zen best points the way and that's not even a religion.
What we have is one supreme being and many religions.
Any religion might get you there or at least pointed in the right direction. The only way to know is to go.

So all religions - by simply existing - are evidence that GOD exists...is that what you are claiming?

[ttruscott]

Is tribalism such a bad thing? It worked well forIs tribalism such a bad thing? It worked well for most of human history, we flourished quite well, spread all around the globe and thrived in a great many environments all while operating under tribalism.

Nothing has taken us out of tribalism. If there is an us vrs them, it is merely a new expression of tribalism, religious, social or political. Mankind has NOT evolved past the tribe...the tribes have only made new alliances.

[William]

[Replying to post 41 by ttruscott]

Is the purpose of religion to bring those tribal alliances into one alliance, as one 'tribe' called 'Humanity'?
According to many religious scripts, apparently - no.
According to many religious histories, apparently - no.

[dio9]

[Replying to William]

You are spot on, the ultimate purpose of religion is to bring all the tribes into one tribe called humanity. This is the glass ceiling religions needs to shatter today.

[Tcg]

[Replying to William]

You are spot on, the ultimate purpose of religion is to bring all the tribes into one tribe called humanity. This is the glass ceiling religions needs to shatter today.

Given that you told me this:

Religion's absolute purpose is to point the way toward absolute value .

What do you see as the difference between "ultimate purpose" and "absolute purpose"?





Tcg

[dio9]

[Replying to post 40 by William]

"so all religions - by simply existing - are evidence that GOD exists...is that what you are claiming?"
sort of I am claiming . humans have an inherent desire to reach for what we call God. Humans in societies have a need for an absolute moral authority to organize around.

[Clownboat]

[Replying to Clownboat]

I rather say religions point to their best understanding of almighty God.

That is nothing more than an empty religous claim. We all know already that religions claim to speak on behalf of gods.

And I'd say science is a better answer to questions such as:
How did we get here?
Why are we here?
What happens to us and our loved ones when death occurs?
What causes thunder and lightning?

Besides thunder and lightning, science does not provide answers for what you think it does. It is only religions that pretend to have these answers. They even have stories about how the gods did much of this. Everything from a 6 day creation event to a god vomitting up the earth. If you are capable of believing claims because of faith. All you need to do is apply said faith to a religion you pick and you can pretend to have answers to these unknowns. That is what religion provides. False hopes to unknown questions.

But I refer you th the wisdom of Buddha on the question of what happens to our loved ones when death occurs. He basically said who knows?

Now there is an honest answer. Something we don't get from religions.

[Clownboat]

[Replying to post 40 by William]

"so all religions - by simply existing - are evidence that GOD exists...is that what you are claiming?"
sort of I am claiming . humans have an inherent desire to reach for what we call God. Humans in societies have a need for an absolute moral authority to organize around.

I believe you are projecting a desire of your own here. That humans desire to reach for what we call god specifically.

You may desire this, but that does not mean the rest of humanity does. I'm open to a god, but I try not to make a habit of 'reaching' for things that have not been shown to exist. I do not seem to have this desire that you claim.

[Filthy Tugboat]

[Replying to post 41 by ttruscott]

Though I agree that in that regard we are still very reliant on tribal ideology but this is a matter of evolution, we evolved with this social structure as the primary means of survival. It is unsurprising that we cannot just abandon it even if we tell ourselves and others we have and we operate in a fashion that is in many ways dissimilar. But ultimately I was asking the question of pre-agricultural society, was it so bad? The quoted post definitely made it sound like it was awful until we settled down and became sedentary, began farming, laws and government bodies as well as organised religions started forming. Why is it seemingly a common position that it was worse before this new lifestyle and culture formed and eventually took over the world?

[Filthy Tugboat]

[Replying to post 45 by dio9]

Humans perception of absolute moral authority is all that is needed, it doesn't need to be objective for humans to feel and act like it is.

Spirituality is important to humans and always has been, this exhibits itself in many ways, not just restricted to religious practices but even sometimes in habitual and superstitious behavior. This is well understood without lending itself to a God or gods actually existing. Whether they do or don't doesn't necessarily impact human spirituality.