doodad

Well, I grew up in religion, and, of course, it wasn't all bad. But bad experiences weren't why I left. I began an honest inquiry into my religion and found it lacking. Perhaps bad experiences and unfulfilled promises of religion spurred my search. Incidentally, I still haven't abandoned religion. I guess I'm still in a process of leaving or in a state of "backsliding." Who knows, maybe I'll come back and be "stronger" for it...but I doubt it .


To doodad, do you experience any more peace or joy as a result of your religion? [/B][/QUOTE]

Let me repond to your last sentence before I get off on a rant.
I can't really tell because I have always been a believer of sorts.
There were a number of years when I had pretty well rejected the practice of religion but then I started back. When I was single and carefree, i.e., with no family responsibilities, I didn't seem to need any comfort or guidance from above, but as a family man it appears that going to church and believing in God can have benefits.

Maybe it's a social thing, "the thing to do" for families. In a small town the church is the mainstay of the social life, and if one does not attend he is frowned upon. Maybe going to church helps to avoid that stigman associated with not going. The pot luck suppers are nice and the fellowship is cool. Hey, the beauty of
having brats in church is that they come with pretty mothers
to drool over. Ha.

I think that one's belief system can serve as a crutch in times of stress. For example, when my father was killed in a farm accident it was a little hard to accept, but the gathering of the family for the funeral service and the service itself helped to ease the loss.
Like I say, it was a crutch, a band aid. Thinking that my dad went to heaven was a sort of displacement for the frustration over the jolt that fate had dealt me. By thinking he is in heaven and in good hands it doesn't hurt so bad.

Religion can also provide the mechanism of rationalism, or making sense out of nonsense. Why did my mother die, and why was she miserable so much of her life? My father didn't help matters any, but she just wasn't a happy person. Her dying and going to heaven hopoefully gave her the peace and the joy she didn't have on earth as a mortal. Another crutch in the psychological sense. Religion is like taking aspirin in that it doesn't fix anything
but it helps to ease the pain. There's some things in life that cannot be fixed, so aspirin beats nothing.

On a day to day basis I think I benefit from the fact that people try to abide by the Ten Commandments, or at least to those who address murder, theft, lust, fibbing, and the like. That's not to say that non-theists don't also have the same virtues, but the majorty of Americans are theists of some degree so I think it's reasonable to think that their religious training helps to keep them in line.

Could I be just as happy as a non-theist. To a degree yes, but I wouldn't enjoy the stigma and the criticism of the bigots. When in Rome do as the Romans do they say. I try to look at the religious issue on a broad scale. As long as it appears to me that the practice of religion does more good than harm for a society then I would have to conclude it's in the best interest of that society to do so. If they don't practice religion then they'll have to lean on some other crutch, and right now I don't think that most folks could do well on their own. It takes time to wean them of their old habits, and I don't see any imperitive need to do so.

Daggah

See Radorth's posts for live examples of this fallacy in action.