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Do we need religion to make good decisions?
Posted by soarkaios • 3/11/08 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: christianity, decisions, God, religion
Please don't turn this into a flame war, also if this isn't allowed feel free to report it or whatever you do.
I've posted this on my blog and I'd like to hear what you guys think. Do you think we need religion to make good decisions?
madmanblog.wordpress.com/2008/03/12/do-we-need-religion-to-make-good-decisi...
User Comments
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No.-
Why do you think that?
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Because a good decision is not necessarily a religious decision and good is not equated with religion.
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Thank you :P.
I agree with you.
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It depends on how you define religion.
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No, we don't. -
no, we do not need religion to make good decisions. -
NO. we need to be rational to make a good decisions and also need conscience and morale to decide whether the decision is good or bad.
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Nope. -
To clarify: you need empathy and foresight.
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no, because there are many different ones and some have some very silly ideas when viewed from certain angles. What we need is to be sensitive and intuitive. -
No, it takes religion to make the really BAD decisions.-
*Polite applause.*
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I don't need cosmology to make good decisions either ... unless the problem relates to cosmology. If your question is limited to decision making alone, the answer is entirely subjective. -
Globalgirl summed it all up very succinctly in my opinion
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no. -
If god told you to sacrifice your first-born son on the tippy-top of a mountain would you do it? wait...
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Some people find it indispensable. Others don't.
It also depends on what you mean by good decisions, since that word can simply refer to how efficacious a decision is without saying anything about its moral content. Since you describe yourself as an atheist, though, I'm guessing you were trying to get at the moral angle.-
stoneman said, "Since you describe yourself as an atheist, though, I'm guessing you were trying to get at the moral angle."
Are you suggesting that because he is an athiest he cannot have a moral angle? Do you think moral values come from religion or god? -
wow, that seems like exactly the opposite of what Mark said to me. What was that you were saying in the other thread about people managing to take offense?
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Oy vey.
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At the risk of not sounding funny, emphatically yes and no.
To make good decisions means that you need a consistent, logical world view (Or to use that old time religious word, morals.) I know a lot of folks who have a moralistic view of life who don't espouse a religion. I also know a lot of religious people who also try to live by a set of rules, derived from their religion, that helps them make good decisions.
For whatever reason, people who make bad decisions usually know that they are. They just don't or won't accept that there is a real basis for morality in human interaction. (Or at least in their interactions. Most of these same people will squeal like a pig if someone else's bad decision causes damage to them.)
Don't lie, steal, cheat, kill etc. The tenets of all major religions. Why? Because they've stood the test of time for a functioning society.-
Societies that are without religion have the same values. Don't lie, steal, cheat, kill...ect... How does one decide what is right and wrong, good and bad in a religion, what are they basing their criteria on? You see, it comes from outside of the religion. Religion adopts moral values, it is not the source of these values, only a redistributor.
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So Morgan, if you can make that final statement with such absolute certainty, perhaps you could also clear up the chicken and egg mystery for the rest of us?
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Oh come on, stoneman, give the diplomatic flair a rest! Europe is almost religion-free and crime is lower than in America or Iran.
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Pardon me. Perhaps I didn't make my point. I'm a humor writer, not a philosopher. Most religions do provide a moral compass for their believers. And if you point at a person who makes bad decisions but claims to be religious, I can usually demonstrate to you their failures of orthodoxy regardless of the religion in question. This isn't to say that religion is the perfect disseminator of morality. Neither is an absence of religion.
And I have no doubt that when you look at the murders, rapists, thieves, what have you, in prison, most are not religious.
But non-religious individuals or groups can and frequently do operate under a moral code. A libertarian as an example, pledges (to himself primarily) to operates under the concept that it is never proper to initiate force against another. Call it a taboo, a law, a moral imperative, your choice. The effect is the same.
By the way Daniel, much as I do not wish to disagree with you, the latest statistics show that in England at least, the violent crime rate is now much higher than the U.S. -
Yes, we're getting pretty ghetto. But I don't consider England to be part of Europe!
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no problem Don because thankfully you don't have to be a philosopher to understand my point.
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Badddup!
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Short answer = nope. -
nope! -
We need religion to make important decisions like who we should hate and condemn...-
Yes, it definitely does serve that purpose.
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seems that you don't know what's good and what is bad, and who's good and who's bad if that is the case!
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@tarius007
I don't think you picked up on my use of sarcasm. -
I picked up on it but the internet sucks for that :o.
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I need wine to make good wholesome decisions.-
The Persians used to do that. They'd get blind drunk and make a decision. And, in the morning, if it still seemed a good choice they knew they had a goodie
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www.blogcatalog.com/group/religious-debate
I think it'd be great if we could continue this topic there. -
You need a good religion to make good decisions.-
[citation needed]
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Definitely not. The part religion plays - if at all - in decision-making varies from individual to individual as a matter of how much of a role religion plays in their daily lives.
Generally though, making good decisions is simply all about thinking for yourself and thinking in general before making decisions. -
We need to first of all understand what religion is all about. religion and Spirituality go hand in hand. As per the ancient Indian scriptures we get birth in a particular religion, where we can make maximum spiritual progress. Thats why Religion definitely does take important role in making decisions.-
... Then how do you explain the vast number of unspiritual, nonreligious people who make good decisions?
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Nobody is born nonreligious or unspiritual. Its our decision in later part of life, that we tend to turn towards nonereligious things. What I am saying here is Spirituality is a way of life, its not about following a crude orthodox principles. The more we dig deep down within ourselves, the more spiritual we become.
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I'm the antithesis to being spiritual. I always have been. Every attempt to instill a sense of religion in me has failed because I'm very unspiritual. This hasn't changed for as long as I can remember (which is actually pretty far back).
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See, things work like this - If you see up in the sky at day time, you can see the Sun. But if you want to say that Sun does not exist, its totally one's own perspective. Similarly, the whole world runs on a universal cosmic principle, and whether we believe it or not, its upto us - the truth will still remain the way it is.
I am not trying to change your viewpoint. But the fact is until you experience something, you cannot know anything about it. Its like until and unless you sit in a Mercedes, you wont know its pleasure. From outside, it will just look like a good nice car. Similarly we need to dig deep within ourselves, to know and understand the spiritual connection. -
But I use science-- empirical evidence-- to explain things to myself. I experience things through knowledge of how things work, not wonder and amusement. There is no spiritual connection; I'm a cold, rational person.
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Spiritual science is the biggest science ever. If somebody has told you that spirituality is all about wonders and miracles, then I must tell you that its not the complete truth.
If you follow proper spiritual practice, you will realize that it follows specific methodologies which can be scientifically proven.-
Spiritual science? No. I mean REAL science.
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Spirituality is a science buddy, I have a whole section dedicated on spirituality on my blog. If you get some free time, just go through it. I will be more than happy, if it can bring about even slight change in your viewpoint about spirituality. Here is the link: sharatthakur.com/?cat=3
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Blog Smog. I want some reputable source >:[
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Check it out first, the source of articles are ancient Indian scriptures...You will get answers to lots of questions like What happens to life after death, Purpose of Life from the spiritual perspective,spiritual interpretation of how mind works etc.
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interesting link. I found something interesting to read here, here is an excerpt:
"Though Steiner saw that spiritual vision itself is difficult or impossible for others to achieve, he recommended open-mindedly exploring and rationally testing the results of such research".
Steiner also says that we should keep exploring ourselves to know about the inner realities of life. -
Who cares what Steiner says? If it isn't 100% scientific, I don't believe in it.
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See, I never said that Spirituality is not not scientific. If you really believe on proven principles backed by rationality, then I can definitely, take you through a spiritual journey.
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Then why do you keep promoting "spiritual science" when I said explicitly that I rely solely on science?
Faith is not science.
How did you make the assumption that I would let it fly under my skeptic radar :P? -
"Faith is not science" - I dont believe this. If the scientists did not have faith, then they would not have had come up with so many great inventions.
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pwnd.
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I can't believe this continues.
However, I realize it is because I think I may have missed the underlying, deeper issue: where do ethics come from?
In this case, I say, authored by our Creator.
Be nice.-
Ethics come from deep moral values, and you cannot be 100% morally correct if you are not spiritual.
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Really? So I'm not morally correct? You're a brave man, my keyboard warrior friend.
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quote "Ethics come from deep moral values, and you cannot be 100% morally correct if you are not spiritual."
where do you figure? in my lifetime (21 years) growing up catholic and goign to church until I was 14, I noticed its often the people that KNOW grace who are most disgraceful. I have my morals, and its about whats right and whats wrong as a society, not for a supreme being. Its the bible that said slavery was ok, that selling your kids was ok. The koran AND the bible say fight for your religion. and nothing has ever been proven. The only religion I approve, which really shouldnt be a religion at all, is buddhism. The budhist set of teachings was written by buddha and the only rational example of society defined morals. -
sharatthakur said, "you cannot be 100% morally correct if you are not spiritual."
What!? You don't have to be spiritual to be moral! Absurd.
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A hen will defend her chick to a predator and will readily give her life in order for her siblings to survive. That's a good decision without the aid of religion in animal kingdom. In humans we have what they call "inner goodness" among us although sometimes our brain are cluttered with bad influences that makes a bad decisions (one of them is religion), so basically man makes good decision because naturally man are good beings. only to be influenced by bad religions.-
Which religion was Stalin following? I think I missed that one.
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Marxism-Leninism.
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The Thorazine of the masses. Of course.
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I think society as a whole has evolved where we define our own morals, young people need to be educated on whats right and whats wrong from their parents. sadly parents arent always looking out for their kids best interests but their own, you can only blame the parents upbringing. I feel religion in society today is a moot point because everyone seems to define it as they see fit. Its easy to thank god when something good happens but not when something bad happens. Speaking as an atheist, id gladly go to hell and be with the ones i love that have done so much wrong for their world and ones around them, than to be in heaven wondering how much pain and anguish hell might be for the people I cared for. All the while looking down upon them and not being able to do a damn thing about it. but then again i dont believe in superstition. To summarize, without religion there wouldn't have been a 9/11, or Hitler.
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The sum of our lives is based on our choices, our decisions. Our motivations govern our choices. If we are motivated by a sincere, thoroughly honest attempt to live God's will in selfless, loving service to others then our choices would align more closely with spiritual reality.
In contrast, if we are motivated by selfishness and greed, then our choices take us away from spiritual reality. This worlds problems are caused by selfish, dishonest and insincere behavior. A person may be "religious" and totally mislead in their circumscribed, dogmatic and selfish world view. An atheist, though not motivated by desiring to please deity, may have a personal moral code and live an outstanding life, though their world is devoid of any hope of maintaining a meaningful existence beyond their short physical life. -
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No, nor do I see that religion saves people from making immoral and bad decisions. -
THIS THREAD IS ANCIENT-
wow, you are right lol! I didn't even notice the date.
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Religion will not necessarily help us make good decisions.
I believe we need to do the following:
1. Seek God's input through prayer
2. Seek God's input through weighing the decision by God's Word.
3. Seek godly counsel.
4. What has God done and is doing in your life.
5. Keep seeking God's answer.
6. Take action.
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