Is religion good for us?

What a great post Rahvin. I see the Abrahamic faiths as the biggest offenders but even if you take religion as a whole thing. So again it comes down to refining definitions to the first common denominator. By that I mean does my concept of good have to be acceptable to everyone? But you do. They are the same ones you had as a child, refined of course. We know what is right. We know that it is ok to eat pork if you cook it properly. We know that you change your books as you learn.As a species we carry a monkey on our back.

This is not a one sided argument. This is one side of the argument. Your job is to present the other side. Show me the good that organized religion is responsible for in the world today.And again with calling people dishonest. I am tempted to launch into a scathing rebuke but I think it would be lost on you. If you can put forward some coherent evidence my mind may be changed. Your mind, on the other hand, is like a bank vault stuffed to the brim with old currency. If your vessel is full then you have no place at the well. I really do not care who is right I want to know what is right. Can you see the importance of that distinction? Religious people are my kind in a general sense. It gives me no pleasure to watch you stumbling around in the dark. We need to lift each other out of the quagmire of ignorance and fear. I dont mean to attack your faith but if it wont stand the light of reason what kind of a refuge is it?I want to say that religion is like a cul de sac. Good for development bad for progress. But I am talking about religion not faith and it seems that the two are inseparable.Ah what the hell. Jesus loves you Archie but everyone else thinks you're an asshole. Its a joke, its a joke.

So religion is a result of our nature. As reason replaces superstition can we not leave it behind?

Cheers to that but I think we need to do more than hope.

Hey my wife does that toe fiddling thing. Feels reasonably good.

We got apart here. Thats not what I meant. I meant that the seeds of moral knowledge are instinctive. From there they grow into reasoned moral and ethical behaviour.That is sort of my point. Reducing that irrational emotional response that is so endemic to religion. And that response stems from the individual.I see that all of our societal ills can ultimately be reduced to the sum of the consequences of the acts of the individuals. It boils down to you and me and what we decide to do, think and believe. Add it all up and you have the present state of things.I guess a broad based liberal education really is the answer as Huntard said.What is the name of the guy who conducted a study at a county fair about 150yrs ago. He recorded all of the guesses regarding a cows weight and found that the mean of the guesses was exactly correct.

A universe of opposing forces.

How much are the doctrines of Christianity and Islam to blame for the over population of the world? Is it their ridiculous birth control policies or is it just the need to breed? What do the Hindus think about it?It strikes me that uncontrolled population growth is a disaster in the making.{AbE} Also striking that as general education rises pop growth slows.Edited by Dogmafood, : No reason given.

After thinking about this statement for a while I have to disagree. While applied critical thinking may produce different results for different participants considering the same question you cant blame the thought process for the undesirable outcome. Any given problem may not have a 'good' resolution but there will always be a 'best possible' resolution.I would also disagree that you dont use critical thinking when deciding what ice cream to eat. Do you like strawberries? If so you will probably like strawberry ice cream. As the personal variables come into play everyones result of applied critical thinking becomes personalized but the model remains the same.The only place I can see where critical thinking falls short is in matters of love. Even there it is likely that we fail to identify the appropriate weight to assign to facts.Do you have any other examples where critical thinking falls short when compared to a non critical thinking approach. The short list in the OP are a few examples of where the poisonous leachate of non critical thinking has cost us dearly.

The OP examples were examples of non critical thinking. If you were to apply critical thinking to the Pakistan/India conflict you would see that there is no gain in killing people over some frozen mountains. Take out the irrational religious dogma and you have a bunch of dogs who caught the car. If you fail to weigh the consequences of demanding my ice cream then you have failed at critical thinking.

See the murder by prayer thread.

Thats correct. I guess my original thought was to pile up the evidence and weigh it. I am not sure. I thought that the difference would be apparent. I guess that I am relying on my own moral code.I see that my original list had some bad things that are not necessarily the fault of religion. Most of them still stand. Apart from an individual coping mechanism, what has religion done for us lately? Any big peace break throughs brought about by religious negotiations? Any big Catholic church funded scientific research? How are the Muslims doing with helping out in Pakistan? I couldnt buy beer on a Sunday until a few years ago. The negative effects of religion are all around us. Mostly we are used to them.I also see some religious people doing good things like the MCC and United
Way. I am not sure that these people wouldnt do good things without their religion.