DrW wrote:Amore,
Let me suggest that you re-cast religion as what it really is; an expression of faith, or belief, in that for which there is no evidence. Atheism then becomes simply the absence of such unfounded and irrational belief.
Atheism is even more illogical than strict Orthodox Theism.
Think about it, DrW... Pretending to know ALL possible descriptions/qualities of all possible deities is making you out to be omniscient! Atheism is a religion of faith - just illogical, misunderstood denial of others' faiths.
If religion really does make one "feel better", perhaps that individual should try to figure out why this is the case. What is missing in their lives that causes them to actually feel better when they think of their imaginary parent?
Actually, studies show that religious or spiritual belief and religious community support have statistically shown to have a positive effect on physical healing.
Also, the subconscious is mysterious but powerful - it governs most of what we think, feel & do.
The subconscious needs a bridge to tap into faith for its positive effects (like placebo effect)... but if your ego gets in the way, it is useless, so the best way most of humanity has discovered for tapping into our ultimate powerful source, is to believe in some type of higher power.
When it comes to real life, evidence based decision-making will result in more predictable and better outcomes, on average, than faith-based decision making.
Nope. Faith and e-motion are similar - not exactly pure logic, but also intuitively prove to be correct. If you take out the emotional part of the brain - one is unable to make any decision - it used to happen when lobotomy's were common.
While I would not argue that religion cannot make life feel better for certain temperament types, having witnessed first hand entire cultures decimated by the practice of religion, and the ignorance it breeds, I must admit that religion makes me a bit nervous. In my experience, people on the whole are generally a lot better off without the burden of false and unfounded belief.
I agree partially - that a substantial amount of mental illness cases may be rooted in misinterpretations of Christian/Judaic doctrine (I read that in an LDS book). Still, the good outweighs the bad, statistically. Morality cannot be governed - religion is required - most people think, feel & act (compulsively) like children - so they need an authority to keep them choosing the right. Ideally, people would do right because they saw it best, even if it was less pleasurable, but the reality doesn't play that out.
How can people who believe in the foundational claims of Mormonism, or that the Earth is less than 10,000 years old - and was created in six days by magic - really be trusted to make good decisions otherwise?
How can anyone be trusted? As Scott Peck wrote, everyone has a religion - just many haven't actually thought through how subjective their beliefs are. Nobody is capable of objective thinking - it's all subjective! Actually, I also get frustrated with ignorant thinking - but it's not limited to LDS myths - it's also liberal and atheism/nihilist myths. Few really think for themselves - they turn to herd mentalities - most LDS on here it seems, have gone from LDS cult to liberal cult - because they can't stand the sense of lonliness and unsurety of not adhering to a set ideology.
by the way; if you don't mind my asking; are you LDS?
I'm a human being. I was raised LDS, baptized, married in the temple, but now my beliefs have evolved so that I don't even believe in Human Sacrifice and Scapegoating (warped Christianity) anymore.