Is religion important to you? If so, why?

[Greendruid]

To quote you //
My opinion is that religion is a man-made tool designed to control people, most were formed during a time where people feared the unknown. Any question we couldn't answer, "it came from God".//

you are actually right, religions are man made, infact the people who claims that holy books came from god dont know that the books where written down by humans with their own hands,
We must not see religions as some kind of doctrine to rule our lives, rather its a mixture of philosophy, literature, history, folklores, moral teachings and represent culture where it originated.

And religions are ever changing with lots of reforms and sect separation between them, and i find similarity in almost every religion that their prophets or messiha always recieves religion's knowledge in some kind of secluded area or where they stay isolated, the question arise who saw it? What is the proof for interaction between messenger and god, infact all the holy books where written after the death of claimed mesengers , and those books where said to be the words of mesenger. But again question arises, that if the holy books are not written by prophets or messiha themselves,
and written by their followers and historian after death, what is the gaurantee that the content in books are genuine? and this is why there are so many different versions of same book with different content added through out history
so yeah, religions are always man made, even if god exist, then i dont think it will bother about what humans are doing, from wars to pandemic to massacre and genocide and what not happened through out history, maybe, god exist but he just doesn't interfere with humans

[DrunkAss]

I dig it. Well, you're critiquing it like it is a science. I see it like poetry: Lord of the Rings. Fantasy stuff. I might have managed to offend both atheists and theists just now. But it doesn't really matter to me if it's true or not. I'm a romantic type. I'm an atheist but I figure you need some romance in your life whether it's God or a woman or dying for your country and regretting that you have but one life to give for it. I figure we all need some sort of "religion".

[zeitgeist057]

Religion is not important to me, other than it is worrisome that such a large portion of the population follow these illusions "religiously".

I can give you my explanation of religion, though, since hat is what you are asking about. No, I dont' think it's designed to control people by some illuminati, but I do think it is used by some people in power to exhert control. Like for instance Trump (or pretty much any other president, left or right) who will intentionally use the religious beliefs of the USA to manipulate them into voting for him or supporting him. Religious people are easy to control by unscrupulous people who understand them.

The reason for religion is basically the desire to know. Humans have a thirst for knowledge and understanding. Religion is the "cheap and easy" fix for knowledge. Instead of using facts, study, empirical evidence, creating theories, using logic, testing your theories and putting them under constant scrutiny, it is much easier to follow a religion, or create your own deity. You imagine an all powerful, all knowing "God", which is just a manifestation of your imagination, then all the questions you could possibly ask all have answers, that all you have to do is imagine the answer and since you are connected to this "higher power", your answer is "truth".

[jshm2]

Your opinion is ill-informed. It is "politics" not "religion" which is man made.

Man made religions are called "cults" and they don't outlast their leaders.

Humans have never feared the unknown - it's why we are the only organism which has been to the moon and oceans depths. Only the confused lay everything as "God did it" as the purpose of life is to learn and develop - not be a leech on God.

Science is just the current iteration of knowledge tools - it doesn't "answer" anything. It's only purpose is to provide a framework that allows an efficient gathering of possible information from something physical and quantifiable.

For example, science cannot tell you why rape is wrong, but can give you a process to find out if it may have occurred. Nor can science give you a feeling of self appreciation and comfort, but can provide knowledge to build a gun and ammo to end it all. It is science that relies on money to continue and develop, religions are mostly donation based.

Also, it is religions that created the civilisations, laws and societies within which science, arts, cultures and everything else developed. You can only sneer at it, but never supersede it. You come across as one of those asinine dimwits that use science as a panacea. Then have no clue where you are going wrong.

[OfDeath]

It isn't important to me in the sense that it is to people who believe it is true but it does have some relevance. In my opinion, the one thing it has left which it does for society that nothing else does is that it creates community meeting places. We have concerts, theatres and conventions etc where people gather but these are one offs and you don't get to see people regularly enough to evolve relationships with them and have a sense of community. I think there needs to be secular gathering places for local communities where anyone can go. They could do things similar to church such as learn songs, hear stories with moral messages, welcome new members and donate funds to community causes. However, I think they could also do better than that. Real facts could be taught to the public instead of only fantastical stories and it could serve as a way to keep people educated. Instead of a priest or a minister, someone with a real education could be employed to host these gatherings and be a good role model for the community. Only something like that could completely obviate the need for religious gatherings.
Learning about religion is also relevant as a part of human history. There are lessons to be learned the atrocities, injustices and social divisions which have been caused by religion. It is also important to know how literature like the bible is relevant to many of the expressions we use in English. So it is important to me but not in the sense that it is to someone who believes it is literally true.

[talloak]

I seriously doubt that people got around a table thousands of years ago and decided "let's create religion so we can control everyone else!" I believe that religion was originally "designed" to do exactly what it claims to do: understand and know God and his desires for us. This is not to say it was successful. But what started out as something based on revelation and spirituality became codified by rules and exploited by the greedy and power-hungry. That trend is true for any powerful quality in human society.

The notion that religion exists primarily to explain natural phenomena is a modern myth. Those who study religions in different societies (such as anthropologists) find that part of religion as secondary at best. The primary role of religion is about the individual's relationship to the divine.

I personally have little use for religion, which I see as the man-made aspect of spirituality. That much I agree with you.

[Liam_Hayden]

" most were formed during a time where people feared the unknown." "Now science has answered a lot of these unknowns"

There is your answer. "a lot" is in no way all of the unknown. And even some of the answer that science have given are not satisfactory. Furthermore, many things cannot be tested by scientific methodology and are thus open to other forms of interpretation.

[BCRanger10]

Yes, it is. I'm a traditionalist Catholic and it goes beyond moral guidelines, finding answers, or giving me purpose. I believe it's the true religion established by God Himself.

What "unknowns" are you talking about?

[DavidFox]

It’s important for me. I have faith in God and know He loves me and created the world.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

Yes, its important. I believe in Jesus Christ and the Bible with all my heart.

[David_Bayer]

I'm not a big fan of religion. It manipulates people into blind belief.