What is the true reason for any religion?

[Skeptic Warrior]

Is it for the betterment of mankind or is it for the rewards of the individual? Its seems that there are laws from these religions that are supposed to guide mankind and to keep it true and good. I was taught at a young age that if I was good, kind, and said my prayers that I would be able to go to heaven. The anticipation of a reward seems to make the good deeds and kind acts hollow. Does this not make most religions self-serving? I do good cause it pleases my god and he/she smiles down on me. So, do you follow for your fellow human or for no one else but you?


Just something running in my head. This is what happens when you work the grave-yard shift and are bored silly.
:D

[evildave]

Control people with ignorance and fear, legally extort money from them, provide a service for the local rulers to keep the serfs in check, etc.

A whole lot of uses and applications before you ever get down to the psychological needs of certain people who want to be on intimate terms with the ultimate imaginary friend.

[Benguin]

To arbitrarily classify servitude and unquestioning ignorance as moral behaviour.

[Navigator]

I do good cause it pleases my god

Well you sound like someone who would 'do good' just because...

Here's an interesting point of view regarding G_D + Religion....

Boundaries are set, veils are pulled down, and one's light is subdued, simply because external, hierarchical controls create fear of the unknown and mystical practices of a sovereign being.

Sometimes folk are throwing baby out with bathwater.
Or ferverently point out religious hypocrisy in a way which prevents themselves from personally going any further down those paths which might lead to discovery.

Maybe the control aspect in religion is in convincing individuals what and how G_D is.
Without organised religion, individuals will still go looking for that invisible friend....something compels...

[Benguin]

Hypothetically supposing you were to cease to acknowledge a God exists, would you stop "Doing good"?

Would amoral behaviour become acceptable?

[Skeptic Warrior]

I should've asked "Are believers in religion self-serving in their beliefs?" This question is more in line with what I was thinking. I blame working the grave-yard shift and to much Coca-cola.

[Bottle or the Gun]

Originally posted by evildave
Control people with ignorance and fear, legally extort money from them, provide a service for the local rulers to keep the serfs in check, etc.

A whole lot of uses and applications before you ever get down to the psychological needs of certain people who want to be on intimate terms with the ultimate imaginary friend.

Yep. Show me one instance of ANY religion that wasn't about control or getting money. I give most religions another 50-60 years before reality, technology and knowledge snuff them out due to lack of interest.

[Bikewer]

I'd maintain that the essential reason for religion in general is as a psychological hedge against death.

As far as we can tell, our most primitive ancestors had funerary rites, which indicated a belief in an animated spirit of some sort.

All the rest came with the evolution of human culture, and the usurpation of spiritual practices by special classes of people.

[Bottle or the Gun]

Originally posted by Bikewer
I'd maintain that the essential reason for religion in general is as a psychological hedge against death.

As far as we can tell, our most primitive ancestors had funerary rites, which indicated a belief in an animated spirit of some sort.

All the rest came with the evolution of human culture, and the usurpation of spiritual practices by special classes of people.

The First Neanderthal Shaman: "Hmmm, me not have to wake before sun up to hunt big scary cat with sharpy tooth if me become Shaman. Me bury dead in ritual, pray, stay home and rut with monkey-babes."

There is a thougth that neanderthals were buried to keep them from getting eaten by the tribe or animals.

[Gregory]

Originally posted by Bikewer
As far as we can tell, our most primitive ancestors had funerary rites, which indicated a belief in an animated spirit of some sort.

This does not follow. What makes you think that the funeral rites were not simply rites of mourning?

[evildave]

Or to keep the predators/scavengers/flies away from your door.

Nothing like seeing a loved one chewed up by rats, birds, maggots, etc. to make sticking them in the ground or burning them seem appealing, anyway.

... and the STINK!

If you're going to stay in one place, you gotta do somethng about the bodies.

Of course, no doubt lots of mystical mumbo-jumbo got attached early on.

[c4ts]

Ideally the purpose of religion should be to benefit both a person and the society in which that person belongs in a way that is morally and philosophically fulfilling, so that its members are compelled to live virtuous lives. However, I can't think of any religions that actually do this, although there are many claimants. In practice, some religions exist for the immediate benefits for a few individuals at the expense of the many, so that they may attain positions of power within the system. Emphasis on things like mythology over truth and strict interpretation supresses the thoughts of others, while at the same time subjecting them to the opinions and ideas expressed by the interpreter, then claiming that these ideas and opinions are in fact absolute truth. Dogma, for example, reinforces the suppression of rational thought in this way. In this way the ideals for which a religion can stand become distorted, and used only to support specific agenda which is more often than not of a political nature. Take, for example, the Rapture Ready boards and their extreme right wing views. It is no coincidence that the two are found together, because these views are not their own but belong to someone else, who has impressed this viewpoint upon their minds by means of religious argumentation.

[Bikewer]

As I recall, not having boned (couldn't resist) up on my anthropology lately, numbers of primitive burial sites include artifacts. This at least lends credence to the idea (well adopted by later cultures) that you could "take it with you".

I think animism was a perfectly logical idea for our ancestors; they were confronted by all manner of things they couldn't explain, and the notion that "spirits" were doing these things must have been attractive.

Likewise the idea of a "spirit" of some sort giving life. Any primitive would have been familiar with violent death; easy enough to understand.
But when grandpa Ug passed away in his sleep, with no wounds or whatever, it would have been logical to conclude that his "spirit" left.

[Navigator]

Ideally the purpose of religion should be to benefit both a person and the society in which that person belongs in a way that is morally and philosophically fulfilling, so that its members are compelled to live virtuous lives. However, I can't think of any religions that actually do this, although there are many claimants.

Greetings c4ts
Be good do good.
In the end, whether religion does or does not abide by this simply thing, is neither here nor there.
If there is complaint about the way society is, and what to do about helping society improve, it has nothing to do with religion.
Individuals can help or not, to improve society.
It has to do with you and the part you play in this improving.

[Navigator]

Why is it assumed how ancient tribes must have thought?

Is is likely that - through any number of reasons, individuals then were aware of what is referred today as "Paranormal".

It is understandable that fear could be attached to these things, and eventual organisations developed which took advantage of individuals who have experiences but don't know where to go (apart from religion) in order to help explain the paranormal thing which has happened.



The Tree Of Human Evolution
The roots of the tree are bound in the soil of genetic memory and subconscious identity. At the base of the tree the first branches sprout and they are the oldest, representing the native religions of the specie. The middle branches are the orthodox religions and institutions, while the upper branches represent the contemporary belief systems that are newly emerging