I don't want to spark a vicious religious debate

special needs said:

But I have a simple question. Why does anyone, regardless of their religion, believe in it?

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Fear of death. Or rather, the fear that death is truly the end of existence.

there was a whole thread on this:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30712&highlight=religion

It's faith.

And you can study and learn as much as you want about it, and your religion. Challenge yourself to understand it more purely. Lord knows there are plenty of varying spiritualities and religions to compare, contrast and try on. Go ahead...go beyond what you are told to reach your own conclusions. What you believe is "in there somewhere."

I offer one more thing. Man wrote on God. Man continues to interpret and misinterpret. You can have faith in God without blindly believing what a religion says...what man said it means. Go find out. Test that faith. Learn as much as you can.

I don't want to go into it further because I don't want to raise debate. Just learn what you can and see where your faith does (or doesn't) lie.

Good luck finding out what path you are on!

I think it's because 1) Humans want to think there's something after it's over and 2) Humans like rituals and 3) Humans like feeling like they're part of 'The Group'... even if it's the Group that doesn't have a Group.

special needs said:

Then, at the same time as I'm thinking these things... I feel awful, as if I'm sinning, or something, for questioning what they say. And why? Because when I was a kid this is what they put into my head?

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I think you've nailed it. I don't feel guilty for not following a religion. Because I wasn't taught that I was supposed to have one, I'm not disobeying (or disappointing) internalized Mama or internalized Papa by not having one.

well, for me, I don't fear dying or even think about dying at all. It's just not a concern for me, but I am religious.

I'm actually a very analytical and rational person, and people might think that there's a contradiction with my personality and my faith.

But I only follow my religion because I came to a rational understanding of the philosophy behind it. I understand the commandments and the rituals and all of that.

Religion should be easy.

and quite frankly, I dont care when other people interpret it differently.

So thats what it comes down to for me. The absolute most important step is to understand the philosophy of your religion. Because i think, that philosophy is universal with all religions.

and then you go from there, and try understand the rituals and the commandments. if it still doesnt work for you, then I dont know.

I think about it like using a textbook in Calculus Class. Sure you can try to figure out the theories yourself, but it sure makes things a lot easier when you have the guide in front of you.

my 2 sense.

I follow what I want to because I choose too. But that doesn't mean I do it mindlessly, hook, line and sinker. I'm still allowed to disagree--I call it free will. In other words, it's not Jones Town unless you want it to be.


I don't fear death at all, either.

Most faiths are love-based. Most religions are fear-based.

special needs said:

(Which is why I chose to put the thread here)... I hope this won't turn heated.

But I have a simple question. Why does anyone, regardless of their religion, believe in it?

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That's a good question.

I'm a liberal Christian, born Catholic. When I was little, I believed in God because my mother taught us that way. Then when I learned about evolution, I began to question creation. Both couldn't be right. I was wrong. Since then, I've learned that both creation and certain aspects of evolution can be right. It took me years of searching and reading, then finally research in bio, to find the answer. Now I believe in creation because there's a scientific explanation for it, though some of the hard core Darwinists still refute it even if it pokes them in the eye.

The other thing I've learned throughout my search for the truth is that all religions are partly right, and partly wrong. I respect them all, and they lead to the same source; the Creator. It doesn't matter how we worship, as long as we accept a higher being. I don't believe what some Christians say that if we don't do it their way, we'll burn in hell. That's only their version. I better stop while I'm ahead before I step on someone's toes.

Because God is love mingled with fear.

like a parent.

maestrowork said:

Most faith are love-based. Most religion are fear-based.

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True. I don't have a religion. Faith is different, and I do have that. Faith, if genuine, is not imposed by anyone and does not come out of a fear of death. It comes from inside, out of the need for complete and absolute inner fulfilment, the need for happiness and love, and is itself its own fulfilment. Not one thing in the world satisfies as much as faith. It's the hunger behind every other hunger.
To quote Jesus (which as those who know me I seldom do!) it's the water which when you drink it you never thirst again. It can't be made or created or explained.

Religions are like buildings superimposed on faith, edifices of dogma that may or may not be helpful, guidelines for conduct, and can be put aside if faith is strong enough.

special needs said:

(Why does anyone, regardless of their religion, believe in it? ...

Typically, when someone tells me something, I question it. It should be human nature given the world we live in nowadays. When someone tells you something, you just don't believe it-- you want to find out for yourself.

Why is this different? Why do people believe in a religion just because they're told to do just that. Believe. They don't have answers... we're just supposed to believe. Why? How is it different form anything else?

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The human mind is limited in its potential to understand "life, the universe, and everything," but the cosmos is not limited in its potential to be complex, unpredictable, and sometimes dangerous. Religion offers the mind a set of broad categories into which most of life can be fit. Force-fit sometimes, but fit.

The appeal of religion is that it's always easier on the mind to categorize something than to analyze it. Plus, each religion offers a fellowship of believers with similar categories. That's safety in numbers, plus the easier social relationships that come from having friends and associates who categorize things the same way you do--less to fight about.

So long as humans remain less than omniscient, religion will have an appeal as a context for explaining the incomprehensible complexities and unpredictabilities of life. Different religions may differ as to how they categorize things, and the fundamentals on which they base their interpretation of life, but they all share the characteristic of offering us a way to at least manage an overwhelming flood of complex information.

Now, as to whether or not they manage this information well, or give us a more accurate understanding of the real world--that's a different question. It is not the purpose of religion (in most cases) to give us a more accurate understanding of reality, but a more comfortable one. A subjective solution to a subjective problem. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

aruna said:

Religions are like buildings superimposed on faith, edifices of dogma that may or may not be helpful, guidelines for conduct, and can be put aside if faith is strong enough.

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Ah, the beginning
of a peaceful thread's demise
The first finger points

Bravo said:

Because God is love mingled with fear.

like a parent.

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I agree.

maestrowork said:

Most faith are love-based. Most religion are fear-based.

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I agree with this, too.

poetinahat said:

Ah, the beginning
of a peaceful thread's demise
The first finger points

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Perhaps I'd better explain. Faith is possible without a religion, but not necessarily BETTER. I came from a religion-less background so I had to find faith on my own, and it's better for me that way.

It gives me the chance to partake of and try to understand many religions, whether they be Christian, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism or what, without comiting to one. I love the ritual and the traditions of them all. I believe that we should look to the noblest people religions have produced in order to understand them and not focus on their mistakes.

Nevertheless, religion without faith is just an empty shell, a compensation, a crutch. Faith is the soul of a religion.

Everyone has beliefs based on faith, and not all are religious. It can as easily be anti-religion, a political theory, the existence of Yeti, or if Elvis is alive.

As an agnostic, I don't believe in any religion I've visited yet, but that doesn't mean someone won't eventually convince me.

The "Big Bang" theorists have faith in their theory and while I can't disprove them, I'd sort of like to know who or what packed the powder and lit the fuse to make the bang.

Live and let live...embrace it if it makes you feel good, but don't go out of your way to share it with me. And I'm not just talking about religion.

Typically, when someone tells me something, I question it. It should be human nature given the world we live in nowadays. When someone tells you something, you just don't believe it-- you want to find out for yourself.

Why is this different? Why do people believe in a religion just because they're told to do just that. Believe. They don't have answers... we're just supposed to believe. Why? How is it different form anything else?

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At the risk of seeming contentious in the Office Party thread, I think you've made a bit of a leap there. I think you need to give people a bit more credit. Most of the people I know do not believe something just because someone told them to. People believe something because it's somehow proven itself to them, and something as personal as religious faith will have to prove itself on a deeply personal level.

Gary said:

Everyone has beliefs based on faith, and not all are religious. It can as easily be anti-religion, a political theory, the existence of Yeti, or if Elvis is alive.

.

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But we're talking specifically about religious faith here, which is a different cup of tea altogether. Trust me, I know - my father was a very faithfull Marxist. Religious faith is an actual muscle - you don't know about it til you find it, and the more you exercize it the more it grows.

I don't think there's a simple, single answer to the question. If one is raised in a religious household, one starts off believing (as some have said) because it's what you do. However, that can't last forever. At a certain point, we do begin to question and that's when either we find someone to provide satisfactory answers or we move away from the religion.

I see it as more than a question of fear, though. Religion, as opposed to simple faith, is about rules for living as much as life after death. It's reassuring to know that you will have a framework to live by that you can use when you encounter things that are so far outside your experience, you don't have any idea how to handle them. Religion in its daily workings involves a value system that's been in use for ages.

Just my 2¢.

pconsidine said:

I see it as more than a question of fear, though. Religion, as opposed to simple faith, is about rules for living as much as life after death. It's reassuring to know that you will have a framework to live by that you can use when you encounter things that are so far outside your experience, you don't have any idea how to handle them. Religion in its daily workings involves a value system that's been in use for ages.

Just my 2¢.

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Hmmm... here again I would distinguish between religion and spirituality. I know so-called Christians who behave as ugly as hell during the week, then go to church on Sunday with angelic faces.
Spirituality on the other hand demands attention to act, word and even thought every minute of the day; it should be the backbone of religion, but very often is not.

Special Needs,

Like me, your wonder of it all will only bring you closer to a universal feeling that there is some supreme entity from time beginning that I prefer to simply call God.

I think I’ve belonged to most religious beliefs from the screaming and dancing, drum beating nutty holy rollers to the peaceful, quiet belief that there is good and evil, demons, a devil called Satan, or Lucifer, who is at fault for all the suffering in the world. I believe there is such a thing as the gates of Hell.

I don’t think I need to belong to a particular religious denomination. I don’t fear death and I don’t hate those of any denomination. I just feel comfortable knowing there is something good to believe in other than evil.