Does religion have a useful role in today's society?
I see this question a lot and I'm starting to have issues with it. It's almost like asking if art, marriage, and prostitution are worthwhile. Bad associations, I know; I mean, it seems to be a moot point. Religion is so rooted in the world just like art and prostitution. It's a function of culture. It'll never be eradicated; it just changes right along with the rest of society.
It seems like people think that if everyone would just learn to think scientifically and logically, then religion would vanish. I think this notion fails to acknowledge some key factors in the human experience; like emotion, subjectivity, and intuition. I'm saying that there are fundamental cultural traits that will always feed religion; positively and negatively.
Religion is a man-made institution. An organized group with common supernatural ideas. It is subject to the same fame and faults of any organization. It depends on those who created it and those who participate.
It's been argued that religion is not needed as a moral guideline. My spiritual ideas about myself, others, and this world greatly affect my principles, my conscience, and my actions. No one can invalidate the basis for my values because those basis don't apply to them.
As long as a majority of charitable organizations are founded by religions; I'd say religion will remain worthwhile.
Of course, I have to quote the bible: James 1 v 26,27
"If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."
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