Religion: Is It Required At All?

Stalin? : ) My bad. You are indeed only pondering on whether religion is required; not saying it should be disallowed.

In my analogy, the guided tour was representing religion itself. If a person uses religion as a set of guidelines to follow as he wants to, using his good sense, then, it is useful for people not keen to (live) sight-see à la carte or impromptu.

I did notice that your blog has three almost separate discussion worthy topics. Is religion required at all, British rule was overall good or bad for India, middlemen (gurus etc) of religion. Brave or inventive combination of topics. Brave if you are ready to debate all three topics in one thread : ) inventive if witting or unwitting intent was to spread out the responses.

 

Why would people take out the umbrella from the head and check? Why would people want to walk without the umbrella? Most would make the umbrella part of them and their identity. There are some things that, if it is working, we don't examine it. Sometimes, life altering events or exposure, or a personal milestone might cause some examination.

The ordinary people I know who are religious, do need it, not at every step, but do need it. They are who they are because of their following religion. I say this without being condescending or patronizing: most of them would be lost without religion, and they would not be who they are.

Like I said in an earlier post, a world without religion, would worry me. For all the harm it has caused, it is necessary. Unless it is replaced by something equally strong but not prone to religion's problems. You say "at every step of their life" -- which brings to my mind some steps of life where religion helped or its need was felt. A child is born -- celebrating its birth. Without rituals or a set of traditions, the celebration would be not as joyful. Weddings -- many will want some ceremony, some tradition/ritual, some celebration. It can be done in a non-religious way, but will take creative thinking and will most likely be based on religious rituals.

Death -- by the time each of my parents passed away, I was more convinced I am an atheist. No temporary indulgences of religion to mark an important occasion. It was difficult to deal with their deaths. I think, if there was the structure religion provides for grieving, it would have been easier. Again, it is possible to create one's own method of dealing with it, but, that takes effort when one is already at a low point in mind and spirit. I finally did find what worked for me, but it came after some difficult times that could have perhaps been less taxing.

"...people do not require religious guidance at every step of their life, as they are not children." -- But people have children. As a single adult, or a couple, it takes some change to live without religion -- one mostly needs conviction of one's thoughts and that is it. Once there are children, it is a little complicated. Bringing up children without religion is a huge undertaking. Most atheist families at least celebrate festivals (the non religious parts). They benefit from the people around them being religious in that it gives them (atheists) festivals. Coming up with one's own festivals based on things like nature, season or other events, is too much work. I've seen very few families where religion is totally absent. At least one parent is somewhat religious.

Given all the above, I find it hard to say that religion is not required at all. Now, religion minus God ... that's a thought.

Nice thread. Made me think after a long time about these topics. Your blog got one Like and responses have gone to five pages. That ratio is a success. I shall pray for thread's longevity.

 

I tried to say something to this effect about science in a thread titled Women entering sanctums but was not as succinct as above. Nicely put.

That being said, I doubt OP is distorting history. He has agreed about the atrocities the British committed and other negatives about the British rule. Per my reading, he is saying that overall India benefited from British rule. Some are disagreeing. "Was British rule overall beneficial for India?" is an evergreen question. Saying yes or no to that question is not distorting history.