jdanton

And why do they connect to one and think it's the only "true" one?

Then, why do they feel they need to convince others?

Why do they feel they have to "save" us whether we want to be saved or not?

If their "god" gives us free will to choose, why don't they?

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Malkavian

It keeps them away from boredom and makes them feel important.

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BleedingPinky

Vicariously I

We've discussed this many times. Religions started because the world was a dark place in the beginning thanks to the lack of science. For example we knew nothing of the way things worked so lighting and thunder were mysterious.

It was the most mysterious thing that caused religion though and that was death. We had no way to cope with it, nothing to explain why one minute we are here and the next we are gone forever.

In the beginning of religion the need to convince others was simply due to us wanting to feel like what we believed was right. If I believe one thing and everyone else believes something else how can I be sure what I believe is right. Eventually through religion came the need to save others due to our reasoning of what happens to us when we die.

Even with religion we are still not able to face death. So we created the afterlife. Being human and not wanting to die we came up with the idea the as long as we were good we would live forever in the afterlife. Thus came the need to save others.

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Jonesy

They need it because they've been brain-washed to need it... like a drug addiction. If no child (21 or below, let's say), was ever subjected to religion, no one would need religion.

djack

Who said if god didn't exist man would invent him. True that the dogma is beat into young heads from birth but I think people would invent a new religion if the old ones were done away with.
It makes life so much easier. You do something bad and it's the devil's fault. You do something good it's the result of you being good and saying your prayers.
It takes guts to admit you don't know something even if it's obviously the truth. We have no idea what happens when we die but over the years we've developed a complex afterlife with golden mansions where we all know how to play the harp and understand all the stuff we wondered about all our lives.

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ianmine

[quote=djack;144579]Who said if god didn't exist man would invent him.



I think that's a very good point ....and I don't think it's necessarily the result of dogma being drilled into young minds as these kids, when they grow up, don't always find what they need in the doctrine they were brought up in, if in any at all...
I think some folks simply need an 'answer' or 'direction...
and some folks simply need to 'give it up to their God" as it makes it easier for them to deal.....
they need a reason where there isn't always one....
or incentive to do what, if they spent some time at self-inflection, they know is the right thing to do without these rules being handed down to them on stone tablets, or some such.....
in short, for some it's an inherent need and for others not so much...
and I don't think that will ever change....

Jonesy

The deep-seeded things are the most difficult to remove (ask any white girl who has known me in my teenage/adult life). This is why we should teach adequate civics As Early As Possible.

The_Heretic

Short answer:

it's an emitional/sociological coping mechanism for why the universe is the way it is.

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John McCain: "He's in Iraq... with a few centuries to kill."





You won't fight for the Bill of Right? Fine! I won't fight for you in the ballot box!

kblair7

People need "god" because they are afraid of death...

They need a way to explain evil

etc..

I just want to live my little life now, enjoy it, without worrying about powers I could never comprehend with my little euclidean brain anyways.

Have a drink! Smoke a joint! Have some sex! Christ all we have is 40 good years.