I truly believe that religious and spiritual beliefs are coping mechanisms for people who can't handle the reality of human mortality, and for people who lack scientific understanding.
hi phillip
Quote from: Phillip Duck on June 17, 2022, 11:32:22 PMI truly believe that religious and spiritual beliefs are coping mechanisms for people who can't handle the reality of human mortality, and for people who lack scientific understanding.
Hello and welcome to HAF,
Phillip Duck. I think your view is accurate, as far as it goes. Religion has history and tradition going for it as well as providing some solace for the suffering and strife people experience. Scientific understanding is mostly inadequate to comfort somebody stricken with grief. On the other hand, as you implied, belief in a happy afterlife can be soothing. Atheists are unable to offer anything like that.
Still, you generally don't find atheists berating passersby about the illusion of sin and the unlikelihood of eternal salvation. If religion were as helpful as the religious want to claim, they wouldn't have to work so hard to sell it.
I hope you enjoy your time reading and posting here. :spagwelcome:
Quote from: Recusant on June 18, 2022, 06:18:39 AMQuote from: Phillip Duck on June 17, 2022, 11:32:22 PMI truly believe that religious and spiritual beliefs are coping mechanisms for people who can't handle the reality of human mortality, and for people who lack scientific understanding.
Hello and welcome to HAF, Phillip Duck. I think your view is accurate, as far as it goes. Religion has history and tradition going for it as well as providing some solace for the suffering and strife people experience. Scientific understanding is mostly inadequate to comfort somebody stricken with grief. On the other hand, as you implied, belief in a happy afterlife can be soothing. Atheists are unable to offer anything like that.
Still, you generally don't find atheists berating passersby about the illusion of sin and the unlikelihood of eternal salvation. If religion were as helpful as the religious want to claim, they wouldn't have to work so hard to sell it.
I hope you enjoy your time reading and posting here. :spagwelcome:
Welcome,
Phillip Duck.
:animwelcome:
Quote from: Recusant on June 18, 2022, 06:18:39 AM...
If religion were as helpful as the religious want to claim, they wouldn't have to work so hard to sell it.
...
I agree.
i dunno
the roman catholics and baptists seem to have a great deal when it comes to enabled pedophilia.
Asmo. The Asmo. Pleasantries.
Quote from: Phillip Duck on June 17, 2022, 11:32:22 PMI truly believe that religious and spiritual beliefs are coping mechanisms for people who can't handle the reality of human mortality, and for people who lack scientific understanding.
Certainly. Religion is not limited to that function, but it certainly is that,
too.
Hi Phil
Welcome to HAF.
That is part of it without a doubt. However I think that people are indoctrinated as children before they really have any concept of mortality. We have had members who have left their faith but still have a deep and abiding fear of Hell. Religions are complex memes and I don't think they are amenable to simplistic stereotyping as such.
It would be nice to know a little bit about you in the Introductions section. :)
Hello Phil. I think your perception may be a bit narrow. I am certain that John Polkinghorne and Francis Collins did/do not lack scientific understanding. While many people may use religion as a coping mechanism, others have simply arrived at this particular world view based upon their personal experiences.
Perhaps internet atheists from Denmark ain't what they used to be. He returned a few days after his intro post and presumably read the replies. He then silently sloped off; not logged in since. Hope he's OK. :maskwink:
Religion is rubbish.