After watching the clip on YouTube by Same Harris Why We Should Ditch Religion and reading the article Why We Believe I have done some critical thinking on whether or not it is conceivable for an individual to completely brush-off of religion, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it is impossible for someone to wright off religion because something (and I’m not sure exactly what) is hardwired in our brains to make us search out something that has more control and a hire existence than ourselves.
I’ve done some reflecting and feel deep down that I want some things; good or bad, to have some sort of meaning. It is easier to grasp a strange situation or outcome by believing that some divine entity has had a hand in it. I especially find myself thinking about God when I need consoling or am frightened, and although I think I am a rational person a part of me hopes that God will intervene in some way. In Why We Believe the author mentions that he crosses his fingers or prays when there is bad turbulence on a plane, and I definitely can relate to that same feeling in those sorts of situations.
Although I am no longer very involved in Catholicism I still understand that, for whatever reason, the need for religion is burnt into our mind. I have no idea what the evolutionary purpose is or even if there is a purpose, but I do know that just about everyone has experienced the need for either religion or a divine being(s). It is also comforting to believe that there is some kind of afterlife because to me, the idea of unmitigated nothingness is the most terrifying thing I can imagine.
I think you touched on something really important here, and that's the function of religion as something that gives comfort. I'm not saying that that's all that religion does (certainly not), but it is a big part of it, for some more than others. I often think that this view gets lost in debates over whether there is a god or not, or whether religion is beneficial to the world or not.
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