Why do we need Religion? Should Spirituality be enough?

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   sweetzaraposted 11 years ago

   Why do we need Religion? Should Spirituality be enough?
   
   

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   suzannoposted 11 years ago

   yeah.
   Like all the rivers finally meeting in the ocean ....the ultimate end of all the religion is one.....One god.....so it doesn't matter on what road we choose......just believe.!!

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3. 61

   Vegas Eliasposted 11 years ago

   Spirituality should be enough. Actually different peoples in fact practiced spirituality in their own way and this gave birth to different religions. A rational person can see the common factor in all religions and believe in one supreme power with no particular name. Religious rites have no meaning other than reinforcing the identity of a particular religion.

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4. 74

   backporchstoriesposted 11 years ago

   Often my Native American Lakota husband  laughs when people ask him if he is religious!  He tells them he is spiritual, part of his nature and that religion is just a way of organizing the masses.  However, the meek sometimes need a leader or directions and that is what religion can provide.  Unless you have a strong spiritual faith that can stand without a church, you sometimes find the blind leading the blind.  This question reminds me of a double edge sword.

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   nightwork4posted 11 years ago

   one would think so if god was real but i guess someone has to interpret the bible for others. if it wasn't for religion, people would think for themselves and that would make a lot of very powerful people very unhappy.

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   Cherrietgeeposted 11 years ago

   We don't need religion. Religion is man's interpretation of what he feels God wants others to do and how he feels God wants others to behave. Religion consists of rules - you can't smoke, you can't drink, you can't watch certain movies, you can't do this, you can't to that, you have to go to church, you have to give your money, you have to be kind, you have to be good. Religion is based on fear of punishment.
   
   Spirituality is nothing more than the awareness of the spirit realm. Spirituality is neither positive nor negative, but completely neutral. One's attitude toward and behavior regarding spirituality is what makes a difference. Since spirituality in and of itself is nothing, it is not enough. It would be like asking shouldn't air be enough to keep us alive.
   
   What we need is a relationship with God. Once a person develops a personsal relationship with the Lord, that individual will study the Bible and seek to live their lives in a manner that is pleasing to God. They will have no regard for man's religious regulations because they know that God's Word surpasses man's rules.

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7. 61

   Jaggedfrostposted 11 years ago

   Surely putting numbers down on a paper should be sufficient.  The order shouldn't matter.  the answers can be whatever you would wish.  Do some experiments based on the numbers.  See if I care.  Don't come crying to me if you blow up a lab or two. There aren't any right or wrong ways to apply math.  Its all relative anyway. All you have to do is feel the true essence of the numbers and everything will be just fine.

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      Civil War Bobposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Jag...is it safe to assume you don't work for the IRS? 

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      Jaggedfrostposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Not very safe but I have found that the logic of what we do with numbers has a lot to do with one's access to higher forms of thought which are just as logical upon their premise.

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   wingedcentaurposted 11 years ago

   Hi sweetzara!
   
   The short answer to your question (a short answer) is that historically, religion has always been an identity-shaping force, something for a community of seemingly similar people to rally around and define themselves relative to others.
   
   For example, we know that the only thing that allowed the Jewish people to survive as a coherent group, and not disappear into history like the Babylonians, Assyrians, Hittites, Amalekites, Chaldeans, Phoenicians, and the like, was their strict adherence to the practices of Judaism. If they had not done this the Jews -- apparently very similar to their neighbors in other respects -- would be unknown to us today. Judaism, then, was vital to identity-preservation.
   
   The Crusades? I would argue that the folks who would become 'Europeans'  thought something like this to themselves: 'As long as parts of this land is colonized by the Arab-Islamic forces, we are a defeated people serving a defeated God. We need to turn this around....'
   
   The Inquisition in Spain, in the 15h century, was put on by a country that was not sure of itself. The leadership wanted to build a modern, unified country and they thought they way you had to do that was by enforcing a unified Catholic faith. It was not a simple matter of 'religious intolerance' without rhyme or reason. In time, the extreme vigor with which the Inquisition was pursued in Spain gave them a bad press internationally: 'If you have to do all that, you guys really must be infested with Islam!'
   
   So, where one sees religious extremism (fundamentalism) you are looking at a community that is not sure of their identity. Indeed, if we ask the question: Why is there so much religious fundamentalism in the United States and hardly none in Europe? -- the answer I would give is: religion did its job in Europe after thousands of years, and they know who they are.
   
   There is a way in which we, in the United States, still really do not know who we are as a nation. The ongoing, ugly legacy of the Civil War is a part of it.
   
   When a community knows who they are and feels secure in this, they can let religious formality drop, and allow what you refer to as 'spirituality,' to flourish.
   
   Take it easy.

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   Civil War Bobposted 11 years ago

   Religion is a result of our species' need for some routine; people "exercise religiously," "brush their teeth and floss religiously," "read the comics religiously," etc. that have nothing to do with divine anything.
   The spirituality part comes from being made in an organized Divinity's image, so we're just doing what comes naturally when we transfer wanting a personal relationship with a Transcendent Being to an organized pattern of behavior that groups agree on to some extent, but not entirely; which is wherein the rub lies, to borrow Hamlet's phrase.

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    edhanposted 11 years ago

    Having religion is like having a place where people gather together and exchange their feeling to one another. It is through talks and discussions for you to understand more in depth of your religion. Some may have misinterpretation of the religion meaning and with open discussion, it can be resolved quickly.

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