Is religion a sentiment?
148734
Eskimo: "If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?" \nPriest: "No, not if you did not know." \nEskimo: "Then why did you tell me?"”\n\n"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."  Dalai Lama\n\nAnd please forgive Schneb for saying it's a regiment.  He just loves to rhyme.
1031875
Definetely no. When you act as Religion orders you to do and think exactly what religion shows you to think, you'll never progress because you wouldn't wish to discover things, because, for every thing you wanted to know, there would be someone saying "because of God". When you use the Logic you can be both, a good person and a person who knows lots of things
666271
Yes of course. You should think whatever feels best to you. I do believe God is happy that everyone is worshiping Him no matter which religion they choose. I personally like to take a little taste from everything available at the religion buffet.
806419
Maybe in the big picture.  However, I have a lot of friends and family that subscribe to one religion or another.  I would not want them to all die because of it.  \n\nI do wish that people were not so fanatical about their respective religions.  Religion is all about making a person feel better about the randomness of the world, how does being mean and judgemental make a person feel good? (Your question was mean and judgemental, does it make you feel better?)
351761
No. I am not a really big religious person but i still believe that if someone is, that is a major life decision and they should believe in what they think is best. Not believe in something just because you do.
709605
Yes, it should. We study human psychology, emotion, behavior, and physiology, so why not religion? Religion shouldn't be exempt from study and criticism. Far as I'm concerned, we already criticize each other's religions as it is, so why not do so academically? The way I see it, religion could probably tell us a LOT about human psychology, especially that of people in ancient times.\n\nThere's also the possibility of historical data that can be taken from religion, too. After all, if not for religion, we probably wouldn't have found the mythical city of Troy, we wouldn't have gone hunting for things like the Holy Grail, lots of archaological discoveries that we probably wouldn't have hunted for had it not been so important to religion. Things that were hinted at in religious texts were sometimes greatly expanded on once such a discovery has been made.\n\nThe only way we can truly understand religion or anything else is by investigating, studying, and criticizing it until we discover the truth. After all, a lot of religions claim to be about "the truth", so why stop criticism just because something's holy? The truth'll never be found if we don't search for it.
644376
"If you can't say something nice, don't say anything"? \n\nSee now that should be a religion.
864351
Absolutely.\n\nReligion and God(s) are not responsible for our development of a "moral compass." Morality is determined by society and as society changes, so do morals.\n\nThe Marquis de Sade stated it nicely, "Moral science is simply geography misconstrued." What might be acceptable in Los Angeles would be considered wrong in Bangkok and vice-versa.\n\nMany have suggested that religion is an invention in order to lay a moral framework. If you think of Santa Claus and the threat of no reward if you didn't obey your parents, you can see the similarities.\n\nAnd to your question of "what's the point of it all?" I'm not sure what you're referring to - but if it's "religion" then you could always go with what Karl Marx said: "Religion is the opiate of the masses."\n\nHe was stating that the promise of a "great reward in the hereafter" kept the worker (proletariat) in line and complacent with their station in life which then benefited the wealthy (bourgeoisie). \n\nDefinitely good stuff to think about and discuss with a group of friends :-)
1041717
Religion and Politics.
406251
Humans have disagreed about religion since there was such a thing.Everyone wants to believe they are right.That is just human nature.Hate maybe a strong word for indifference's because when you move from that to hate then you not worshiping a higher power,, you are worshiping the devil and everyone agrees he's bad.
841399
Racism or religion - people are passionate about both xx
391452
I believe in people's right to chose their own religion\nI believe that it is my job to help people when I can and ask nothing in return\nI believe that people are fundamentally good, there's no such thing as an evil person, only mistaken patterns of thought\nI believe that religion is good when used to help people, but that it can (and has been) used as a weapon, which is wrong\nI believe that science is also good, in that it leads us to better understand the world around us\nI believe in the divine, and divine mercy, but I do not believe that the divine has only one aspect, or that the divine is necessarily male
263601
Yes I do. But I don't believe in religion, because religion generally preaches intolerance and attributes human traits to god, which I think is inaccurate. I do believe that a loving and beautiful entity created us, and that it is "god" or whatever you feel more comfortable calling it. But I believe many things, using a mixture of logic and instinct. My instincts tell me there is a presence that loves us all. But that is just my simple understanding. Any suffering that we feel is our own creation, so the argument that "why would god cause pain" is an inaccurate argument. God, I believe, has infinite patience, and that is why we cause eachother pain without being stricken from the earth. And that is why I think that the atheist logic is flawed as well. Both sides use either the bible or "logic" to either bring down or deny god for their own agendas. Both sides use emotions, mostly anger; anger at god or anger at those who deny god. Please understand that I am not trying to bash anyone, this is just people that I have known personally, not everybody. Suffering is an emotion, which is a blessing and a curse, to quote a cliche.  With true enlightenment can come love and happiness, and for me that enlightenment is my bond with my creator. I feel happier than I have in years, and it gets better every day that I allow it inside. Every time I try to understand another human being and their pain and joy I think that things are more clear to me. I used to be agnostic, because of my anger at god, but one day, I just realized that my pain didn't have to own me. God is not something you can logically prove, or logically disprove, it is just something you believe one way or the other.
937621
Not really.\n\nMost religions use an external belief in a 'God' or 'Jesus' to develop love and morality in their minds.\n\nBuddhists believe it is up to the individual to develop these traits. That's why Buddhism is sometimes called 'mind training' or a philosophy and not a religion.
880458
In short, yes. But it also enslaves people to irrationality and denial.\n\nOne thing I have learned about most religious people is that, facts, reality, commonsense, rational thinking, and the like, have no place in their lives. You can not reason with them - it's the great mystery of human behavior.
257156
People are people. I wouldn't advise basing your opinion of someone, as a person, on their religion. It depends. And that can be said of any group of people.
1170101
Well, i consider myself spiritual. Religion is basically a set of beliefs normally initiated by a certain orginisation or group of people. You normally don't have as much room to move in with a religion, but, it can also be seen as the sceleton or backbone in you spirituality. I normally try and look at religion in a symbolic manner rather than blindly believing every word of any sect.