| With all the increasing evidence that going to church is dangerous to mental health, should people stop going? |
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Asked 2 years ago
by Lumpit  United Kingdom |
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About
A dis/misplaced Londoner, always looking, sometimes liking, but usually lumping it.
Only those who dare to be different ever make a difference, innit!
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9 Points
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What evidence?
What, all those wars fought over religions not enough evidence for you? But to be fair I don't know if it is religion that caused them or if men would not have found another excuse in order to wage war.
I think "those religious wars" had more to do with controlling people, and raising armies to invade. I don't think the common man or the common soldier was driven to insanity en mass to do the fighting in those wars by going to church.
I fing more troubling evidence in the Catholic Priest pedophile scandals, but even that does not make a convincing argument that going to church is dangerous to mental health, to my mind.
Indeed just because a person is (or claims to be) religious does not make him or her a better or worse person. Every group has bad apples in its midst, I do not blame the group for the actions of those individuals. I tend to judge people on their actions, not by the group they belong to...
But faith does require to accept god without question, or evidence that can be tested by those who do not have that faith. That in itself is not dangerous until that blind faith is abused by their leaders. This blind faith in the leaders is of course not limited to religion.
For the record I am an agnostic and find religion and the associated blind faith interesting and funny at the same time. Just because something is written down in a book (the bible) does not make it true (nor right or wrong) But this is of topic.
People should NOT stop going. If all those rednecks didn't have to go to church on Sunday morning they'd party a lot hardier on Saturday night. There'd be way more drink driving deaths and alcohol related crimes; therefore going to church is a good thing and people should NOT stop going. It makes the streets safer for the rest of us. :-)
This comment was deleted.
[1 point] 2 years ago by deleted user Reply:-)
Faith in god is not a bad thing. If there was actual study evidence that religion was bad for mental health, there would be links to support such evidence.
Faith has the benefit of turning people's lives around when they have a crisis and it's a way to sort out their lives.
In my case I believe it's a healthy way to talk about stuff troubling you and don't want to talk with another person. When there is no one to talk too, God and Jesus are there.
What gives faith and religion the bad rap these day are how we practice our beliefs in public. There are a couple things I've noticed on my own from the world around me. First, being clergy who falling into temptations easily hide their sins, or remain at their positions when their sins become public. Instead of fixing the problem the religions place road blocks to hide their faults. Second, Fundamentalism cults of today preach war as an answer, not older beliefs. Finally, today v.s. 50 or 100 years ago religions went from shameless to shameful attitude as we progressed as an society.
Faith is everyone's own journey to find their own peace of mind even if faith is not in religion.
Well, I'm not sure i agree with you that belief in god isn't a bad thing. The argument goes that believing in something without a provable basis leads to people who don't question and thus to a stupider populous. And honestly, from my personal experience i absolutely agree with this argument. However I do see the benefit that some people gain from personal belief. But i wonder if without religion such people might be able to find solace in community and personal strength as opposed to taking the path of surrender to a higher power.
I myself an a firm atheist and i would say the worst part about religious people in general is that they seem proud of their ability to believe in something without proof, which is exactly the thing that is so wrong with religion. Therefore these people are unfixable. It's just maddening from my perspective.
If you are interested in the argument against religious belief a good place to start is "The God Delusion" By Richard Dawkins
An excellent comment.
Reason is preferable to the denial of reason.
I was the same way until in my own way it was proved to my of my faith. I'm Catholic but open to other views and my sister turned Buddhist a few years ago. Also I'm open to supernatural or unexplained events around me.
To me by how I know god and Jesus exist is when I pray I about problems I'm tired to deal with and looking for guidance to solve them. The dreams of that night reflect in events or in long conversations with people I need to confront with my issues.
I also do believe everyone has faith in some form. As you said yourself you have faith in the community even though it's not in a higher power. More often today people have faith in multiple areas of life besides one area. Back when life was simpler a century and more ago faith was in one of the majority. Today faith is spread out in our changing world to have people to keep a sane mind.
My faith in a higher power to this question has me religious but ashamed to admit proudly in society, especially in a multicultural society like Canada. Creating the dilemma faith v.s. cultural acceptance as the mental health issue. There is always a way to balance everything out for each individual person.