Why be religious?

Indoctrination from an early age in most cases.
People that find religion later in life have all kinds of different reasons.

 

I believe there's more to life than what's (physically) in front of us.

 

I wasn’t trying to be negative but I’m not sure which sounds worse.
From google.

“Religious upbringing refers to training in religious matters which a child receives during his or her childhood.”




in·doc·tri·na·tion
inˌdäktrəˈnāSHən/
noun

1. the process of teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs uncritically.
   "I would never subject children to religious indoctrination"

 

To have a belief system maybe. I mean there's a ton of people out there that "ship" (literally a shortened version of worship) tv shows, tv characters, and/or celeb couples. In the same way, those things that are shipped end up representing a set of beliefs for the people doing the shipping.

And sure, there are a lot of negative things about religions. There are also a lot of negative things about most pop culture role models. Most people are good at following mostly the good.

Just my two cents.

 

I’ve known different people who have started following religion later in life and it’s not because they were doing well in life.

Life and death are a lot easier to accept if you believe in a higher power or an afterlife.

 

Because uncertainty is scary.


Death, natural disasters, illnesses,accidents, all those things we can't control are extremely scary if one actually stop believing that there is an inner message behind it all and a good reason all of it is happening.

Because if you start thinking that people and kids get sick and die in horrible and torturous conditions just because, that the kid you just lost you won't see again because life is unfair and heaven isn't a thing, that all the bad and the good is for nothing because we are all doomed anyway then the world becomes a scary place.

People need hope, humans also need to feel important like they have value and their life matters. It needs to have a meaning and religion provide people exactly that. A sense of pertaining to something big, something that gives a meaning to all the things that are unfair and don't make sense or have a satisfactory explanation, it makes people feel like their life matter because they are "preaching the good" and ensuring themselves "salvation" and a place with the people they love after death, or so they hope. Religion give them some sort of control over things they can't control (death, illnesses, loss) they can't change those things but they feel they can control their behaviour and what they do during their lifetime to ensure better results. It gives them power a life without God wouldn't give them.

It is easier to accept losing a son to cancer if you believe it happened for a reason. The loss of someone is easier to deal with if you believe they aren't gone forever and that they are here somewhere and you will see them again when your time come.


Religion gives hope to people.

I am not religious at all but some people need hope and comfort and believing that they aren't alone, that they are part of a bigger picture and that someone has their back (even if that someone could be imaginary) and they find this support in religion.


I think religion is what has created most of our problems but it's a very good way to control the population en masse which obviously benefits quite a few people.

 

I think it’s psychological.

 

When we talk about someone being 'religious' we often get a negative mental picture, because religious people tend to be rather pious and holier than thou. As members of the LGBT community, many of us have been on the receiving end of that sort of shrill and rather angry preaching and it just gets tedious and only serves to piss us off. I am a Christian, but I would never describe myself as religious.

There are many reasons why people choose to follow a particular religious path and I do think it is a choice, in most cases. I'm not dismissing the argument about indoctrination, because it is valid to some extent... but only to some extent. I think it's a little too easy to claim indoctrination, because on a basic level I think people remain with their faith because they really want to; because they really believe in it (even if they don't believe in the whole of it) and personally derive something from it. That's very much the case with me. Put simply, my faith anchors me and offers direction. It addresses some of my questions about life and the human condition in a way that science and logic never could.

For me, it's not about being 'religious' though. I said I am a Christian - a follower of Jesus Christ - and nowhere in scripture did Jesus say "I have come so that you may have religion or be religious". In John's gospel he is quoted as saying "I have come so that you may have life and have it abundantly". That's what it's really about for me... it's about living the life we have and living it well, realising our full potential and aiming for the very best. Therein lies a message for many people, including many in the LGBT community.

 

There are many different reasons why people may be religious. For some it may be tradition, it's what their parents and their grandparents have been doing. For others, it is a sense of duty, for some it is fear and again for certain people there's hope.

Then you get people who are religious because it's their way of relating to the world. Ever since I got out in nature as a child, I felt things I couldn't explain or share with others but resonated with my deepest convictions of what life is about. I felt like the grass, the air, trees, all plants in general and even rocks had their own type of existence that hummed in tunes we wouldn't notice. I felt deep peace and a sense of beauty and harmony in natural places. Sometimes it made me want to sing, sometimes I felt like speaking in verse, most of the time I stayed silent -because they were others around me and they would think I'm crazy if I did any of these things hahaha.

 

I believe religion is important because it gives something to people who have nothing. It can fill holes that you didn't know you had. Is the exact religion important? No, not really, because many teach the same basic principles: to be a good person. It doesn't matter if you read the torah, the kuran, or the bible; it doesn't matter if you believe there is one god or several; if you believe everything small and large has a spirit; it's about believing in something, even when no one believes in you.

To me, religion is about belief that, at the end of the day, everything you do matters. It's the hope that there is something for us after we die. It's the fear that we aren't doing enough for each other and too much for ourselves. It's about hope, love, and sharing, and acceptance.

Of course, most religions have been corrupted in one way or another by a group of believers, they want their belief to be the only belief, but I implore you to not let these groups taint your view of religion as a concept. Religion does do good in the world, despite all the bad done in religion's name.

Now, I don't know whether there is a god, or gods, or spirits or whatever else you can think of. But I choose to believe in a god that cares. Whether or not someone else believes, and whatever they may choose to believe in, is their concern, not mine.

 

For me it's because I believe in God and want him to guide me and to be happy with me.

 

I just read Jennifer Knapp’s book Facing the Music, which goes into her childhood in Kansas, her life as a Christian music artist, and eventually realizing she’s gay. She’s so thoughtful and articulate about her exploration of faith. I recommend it for anyone who is either into religion, LGBT, or feels the two shouldn’t have these conversations.