Religion, What do you think of it? Options

[HyPN0]

I got the idea for making this thread from Polygamy thread. I think this may be an intresting topic.

What do you think about religion(s)? Do you belive in any kind of gods? Christian God? Alah? Buddha? Or you don't have a religion at all?

If you do stick to your religion, tell us why. If you don't belive that there are such things as gods, again tell us why.
I hope that there won't be any flames or immature behavior. I have good faith in Chorrol.com community that there won't be any hard words, or simply dissrespect towards other opinions.

So, let's start shall we?

[stargelman]

Interesting thread idea, HyPN0

Me, I'm an atheist. Always have been, always will be. It's not just the way I've been brought up, it's something I have reflected upon intensively and I, for myself, have come to the conclusion that I do not have faith. That's what I see atheism as: a state of total lack of faith in any kind of divinity.

As far as the origin of religion is concerned, I think I read that humans have a built-in "religion gene" (don't take that literal). What this means is that we are predestined to fill the big gaps in our knowledge, the ones that really concern or worry us, with ... something. I'd say imagination, but that would probably come across as a bit flamey.

Anyway, you get the picture. The idea is probably that we -or rather our brains- can cope with very frightening, disturbing or exceedingly complex concepts without totally losing it. The concept of our own mortally, for instance, is one of the most difficult things to cope with, at least when you have reached that point in your life where you truely understand "it can happen to you, too", and you start to think and worry and wonder what comes "after". Religion can provide an answer where otherwise there would only be doubt and fear.

I wouldn't say that it has outlived its usefulness by now. Obviously, many people still have a strong need for religion. Demand for it seems to increase the worse off people are in general. Many see it the other way around and observe that people who live the easy life turn away from religion. I for one have had a couple of difficult years in my life, where I had to life off very very little. Of course, that was still by far not as bad as starving in a really southern poor country, and I really can't say how I'd feel if I had been born into a different situation. Maybe I would feel very different then. Or maybe if my parens were religious, who knows.

If I'm going to honor a God or Gods on a regular basis throughout my entire life with beliefs and rituals, the least they could do is give me some proof of their existence.

In the immortal words of Star Trek Deep Space Nine's Major Kira:
"It doesn't work that way!"

Religion is based on faith. Either you have it, in which case proof is not required. Or you don't have it, in which case nothing will convince you anyway.