The Purpose of Religion

Conversation I had with my daughter tonight.

I said that the purpose of religion should be to make us better people.

Her response was, "I thought it was so people could think they'll get into heaven so they don't have to be afraid of dying."

She's probably right.

 

It's both. Addressing fear and greed.

For an individual Christian, it alleviates fear of the unknown by replacing the unknown with another fear made of a silly story of ghosts and vengeance. For a society, it attempts to temper greed through Confucian-style social morality. This second component has been waning in the last two generations of Christian Americans, as exemplified by the rise of the "Christian luxury" dogma (yet another corruption of the original intent).

All that is left of American Christianity is fear and vengeance and a kind of reverence for a past that never really existed except for a few very small pockets of homogeneous populations over a span of 4-5 generations. And even then, it was a forced concept that consistently broke down upon close examination of actual behaviors and rewards, especially by the leaders and promoters.

 

God has an ego, he wants to be worshiped.

 

We're made in His image.

 

power and money

 

I wondered about this at a very young age. How could something so loving be so vain as to demand worship?

 

i've heard this about myself before.

 

Do you banish souls to a fiery pit for not believing in your glory?

 

it depends on your definition of fiery pit