(09-28-2021, 03:41 PM)AspieMillennial Wrote:(09-28-2021, 11:19 AM)tg63 Wrote: well, I engage in discussions with those who hold opposing positions to mine in the hopes that I might learn something
They don't listen to my views though.
I do listen. I find your views all too often terribly flawed.
There are reasons for religion.The question is whether they apply to one.
1. It can improve character. Religion can repudiate selfishness, excess, cruelty, corruption, and recklessness. Some divines are models of wisdom and morality. Of course there's a huge difference between Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Jimmy Swaggart. Most of the televangelists are snakes in suits intent on fleecing believers for their sybaritic excesses. Maybe the parish priest or local pastor has no chance of doing anything like that and would not accept such a chance if offered it.
2. Clergy are often the best-educated people in the community on the philosophical realities that undergird life. Who are you going to ask the question of what the meaning of life is? A physician? He probably lacks the time. A CPA or an engineer? Too narrowly specialized, I suppose. A K-12 teacher? Most likely the teacher is concerned more about educational basics than the highly-refined realities of life. A psychologist? The psychologist will be looking for traits to match you with the DMS-V.
3. It's a distraction from some very bad behavior, like addictive behaviors. Better Jesus than porn, I suppose.
4. It might connect one to a needful network and a desirable structure in personal life.
5. You may find People of Faith much more reliable than people who believe only in consumerism, hedonism, career advancement, and entertainment.
6. Religious bodies may be convenient places for meeting people with whom you wish to share some life.
If you live in certain communities it might be wise to be a religious person or at least pretend to be one. Do you like that community?
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.