On Usefulness of Religion

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On Usefulness of Religion

The Usefulness of Religion - Early Modern Texts
www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/pdfs/mill1873c.pdf - Cached - Similar
Usefulness of Religion. John Stuart Mill. Introduction. Introduction. Friends of religion and its enemies have had a great deal to say about whether religion is true; ...

What is the usefulness of religion? - Frihost
www.frihost.com/forums/vt-103065.html - Similar
Aside from literalist cranks, no one believes that religion helps in any way to explain the functioning of the universe. Since at least the 1800s, science has been ...
 


Nearly 40 years later, we are still learning about the horrors of the Jonestown massacre
August 20, 2017

WARNING: Graphic content
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/re...e/news-story/36d5794db4669eb4ada1a01cbccae1be

“Firstly, how he became who he was, and secondly why he was able to make so many people follow him for so long.”

Guin, whose latest book The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple was released in Australia earlier this month, says that during his research, it became clear the preacher’s tactics were in line with the tactics of other demagogues before his time.

“The members of the People’s Temple were some of the most intelligent individuals anyone would meet,” Guin said.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demagogue

The central feature of the practice of demagoguery is persuasion by means of passion, shutting down reasoned deliberation and consideration of alternatives. Demagogues "pander to passion, prejudice, bigotry, and ignorance, rather than reason."[4] See below for a survey of the methods of persuasion used by most demagogues throughout history.
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I don't think there are very many people these days that see God as the Almighty anymore.
Surely if there was such a God he would have stopped WW1 andWW2.
Good and evil are the forces within all of us.
Germany was in too much chaos after WW1 to stop Hitler and his message of hate.
These days in some countries he would be parked into an insane asylum but others he would still get to the top. It is up to the general public whether they will allow it. Budding dictators are currently vying for power in Turkey. Venezuela, North Korea.
Some even speculate that Trump is on the road to absolute power. Removing rivals and obstacles on the way there.
Downgrading the Joint Services Committee
Threatening the Free Press
Living in his own fantasy land that the public adore him when there are riots on the streets.

etc.
 
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Sikh Canadian Politician Brilliantly Foils Racist Woman During Event
10/09/2017
http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/20...ring-event_a_23203346/?utm_hp_ref=au-homepage


A Sikh Temple Where All May Eat, and Pitch In
By LYDIA POLGREEN AUG. 29, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/world/asia/30india.html?mcubz=3
INDIA-JRL-1-articleLarge.jpg

All faiths are welcome to eat a free lunch daily at the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for Sikhs, in Amritsar, India. Credit Lynsey Addario for The New York Times



11 Times Sikhs Made The World A Better Place
December 23, 2015
http://www.indiatimes.com/culture/w...khs-made-the-world-a-better-place-248637.html


Sikhs In New Jersey Feed Thousands Because It's The Sikh Thing To Do
This is what faith in action looks like.
24/11/2016
http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/en...-sikh-thing-to-do_us_58346fe4e4b099512f84c2c7
5834bc8a1a00000b03cc95a8.jpeg

Volunteers participate in the Nanak Naam Jahaj Gurudwara's "Let's Share A Meal" event.
 
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I think religion has its good sides. Over the ages some have protected the poor and disadvantaged from despotic rulers. In the UK religion was the champion of science and learning until the facts were found to contradict their teaching. For instance the earth revolved around the sun not the other way around.
It does give hope and purpose to many.
 
No benefit from religion,it would only do harm.I remember in the USSR there was no religion,people used to live not closing doors at night.
 
fordewind said:
No benefit from religion,it would only do harm.I remember in the USSR there was no religion,people used to live not closing doors at night.
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So what you're saying is that if the world got rid of religion, we'd be as safe as people who lived in the USSR? No thanks. Mass genocides, famines, widespread police surveillance. I guess if you lived in the city, you'd have had it a lot better, but those in the country really got the shitty end of the stick and didn't even a God to pray to for comfort. Just accepted their lives sucked and waited for it to be over. Maybe that's why so many left their doors unlocked...just hoping someone would come and kill them in their sleep and get it over with.
 
Surely the object of religion is found in the next world, not this? Surely the worship of your god or gods is to ensure your happy progression into and through the next world? What happens on this earth is very secondary.

A helpful outcome of religion is a widely accepted set of morals governing conduct and contact. Although shakey somewhere at every point in time in history, this has ensured development of human society into what it is.

A bad outcome of religion is that I always feel that people who have a strong religious code will seek a way to treat me differently if I don't share it. So I can respect religion as a principle but I have to distrust all strongly religious people.
 
The issue if religion is usefull or not seems to be a bit funny. What is that question about? Usefull for whom and for what purpose... That should be clarified before reasonable question could be asked.
 
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