Religion and Faith are both illogical. I say this because many people say they know for sure their Religious beliefs are true, when they don't know why. Essentially, I'm saying the belief in a set of Religious Ideas is illogical unless you have proven to yourself that they're true. If you really know your Religious Beliefs are true because you've had an experience of some sort, I would argue it's completely logical to believe that way. On the other hand, having blind faith is not logical.

Here's my counter against it. There's a lot of unknowns within the universe and with our own existence. Some people cannot handle what science has put forward as to what happened in the universe and where we're potentially going. I think some people use their religious beliefs to hide their fear and take comfort in what can be considered an illogical delusion than the thought that the putty inside of a spherical bone that is a living human being will shrivel up and cease to exist along with the person that was in it.

Now taking comfort in that illogical delusion is what is possibly a good thing and they can take that delusion, but there's a catch. It has to strike a balance between accepting what someone can believe in a fantasy and accepting reality as it is. I kinda believe that the modern religious people in the Western world, namely the secular Christians who cherry pick their book and live by Humanist principles, are the ones that strike this balance.

I think it is possible to live with insanity.

5482418 I fail to see your argument, but I do recommend you reply to a post if you wish for the person who wrote the post to read what you wrote.

5482353 Having blind faith yourself , may be illogical but to convince others to do so is logical. Keeps society together, makes it stronger. And if it is needed to be have it yourself to convince others then it is logical to have it yourself. (sorry for my english skills)

5482537 Okay.

5482353 And about religion, it is absolutly logical, from my point of view to have an religion. It forms some kind of rules for society and hold back people from crimes and stuff, to fear an 'bill' after life.

5482546 Confucianism is proof you can have rules to keep people in line without a religion. Although Religion is really good for that.

5482564 You know what happend to Confucianism during history? And technical Confucianism is a religion as well.

5482571 Confucianism has no god, and therefore no faith to adhere to, so it cannot be called a religion. No I don't know what happened to Confucianism during history, I don't study Asian history.

5482587 I didn´t study it either. It´s hard to bring this trough the translation. Confucianism was close to get destroyed, there was a period the whole thing was forbidden, the temples burned and people with this religion killed. If it was just a simple way of thinking this all would not have been necassery for the enemys of it.

Anyway it wasn´t able to hold people in line. Not as much as the other religions do.

5482514 Take the belief in God and the Afterlife. Isn't it better to believe in something so illogical as that instead of permanent death where your brain shuts down, rots, turns to dust, and you will never exist again until the great Heat Death of the universe?

5482611 It's much more comforting to believe in life after death. I believe in life after death because I've seen a ghost before, believe me or don't.

5482611 The question was only if it is logical, not if it is better or not. I agree with you it is better then the alternative but is it logical to do so just to stay calm and happy?

5482602 Well, scaring people into submission always works better than suggesting they do something.

5482618 Sure , remember the book, how did english people call it? 'the Prince' with machiaveli.

5482624 I've never read it before.

5482632 Then you really missed something. It mentioned the behavior you should have as an ruler. It dosn´t care for morality in any way, it just say what´s to do in some situations and why. It also say if you can , be beloved but if you have to chose to be beloved or be feared it is better to be feared.

5482637 Ah, there are many a Leader who should read that book.

5482640 Oh no, i hope it dosn´t happen. It tells you many many dirty tactics to get sure noone ever rebels against you and stuff.

As an example, it says if you need money from taxes, let someone get it for you, someone cruel and brute. He press the money out of the people and give it to you. After he did a great job and you are having enough money, let him get arrested and killed in puplik to calm down the people. Tell them he has done this cruel things without your knowledge and blame him alone for it. So everyone thinks you are a good guy and don´t rebell against you.

It was written a few hundret years ago by the way.

5482617 Hmmm, so is it logical to believe in something that you know is illogical. That statement is a pretty big no, but since we're not the most logical species, we think of ways around that.

5482640 I've heard bits and pieces and it really is kinda terrifying and makes a lot of sense. For example, if you, as a ruler, have done some unspeakable evil, you have to protect your power base and your supporters. In response, you have to throw someone under the bus. For example, when you ordered your army to do something and they do it, the mob of civilians will cry out for the blood of the King since he's the one responsible for the army. You can go "It was that General right there who did it!" and you throw the General to the mob to be ripped apart. It appeases the mob and ensures you still stay in power.

There's also another recommendation I found recently called the The 48 Laws of Powers by Robert Greene and it has a similar feeling of how to use political and social Power for your own benefit.

5482646 I see. I wonder why the Catholic Church didn't rebel against King Henry VIII.

5482655

Hmmm, so is it logical to believe in something that you know is illogical. That statement is a pretty big no, but since we're not the most logical species, we think of ways around that.

why should that be a big no? Belive in something that is impossible would be illogical but there could be a god outside so it isn´t unlogical to belive in religion to stay happy.

5482353 Just to play the devil's advocate here, how much of what you think you know have you actually observed? Can you be sure that Julius Caesar actually existed, or that Barrack Obama (or the leader of whichever country you're from) is a real person, or that Uzbekistan is actually a real place, or that the Sun is actually millions of miles away? I'm pretty sure you've never met Julius Caesar or visited the sun (or done the relevant calculations), and you probably haven't met President Obama or been to Uzbekistan either.

Instead, you've probably been taught these things in school, or read about them somewhere, or seen them on TV. In other words, you've been told these things by someone else. It's possible that your teachers and textbooks have lied to you, and it's possible that the "president" on TV is just an actor (maybe there is no president/prime minister/queen/whatever). Do you have good reason to believe that schoolteachers and textbooks are more truthful in general than priests and "holy" scriptures? Or do you simply have faith that your teachers and textbooks have told you the truth?

5482693

Can you be sure that Julius Caesar actually existed

No, I can't.

that Barrack Obama (or the leader of whichever country you're from) is a real person

Well, when I think about it, no, I can't. Although I am sure there's probably one person alive whose name is "Barrack Obama".

or that the Sun is actually millions of miles away?

I have no idea how far away the sun is from where I am, currently it's irrelevant to me.

you've probably been taught these things in school, or read about them somewhere

Are you referring to all the information I've ever heard or read before?

It's possible that your teachers and textbooks have lied to you

2 + 2 = 4, if you have two apples, and all of the sudden two apples appear that become yours, you'd then have two more apples than you did. Originally having two apples, and adding the two more apples, you'd have four apples. I don't see how that could be a lie, but if you want to elaborate on how that could be or how that is I would most definitely take the time to look over your argument.

Do you have good reason to believe that schoolteachers and textbooks are more truthful in general than priests and "holy" scriptures? Or do you simply have faith that your teachers and textbooks have told you the truth?

Well, yes actually. If I believe that a computer works the way my teacher tells me it works, and I use this information to fix broken computers successfully, then I've got a job, which could lead to money, which I could use to buy necessities.

5482353 faith in God is not necessarily blind There has been things and continues to be things that cannot be explained by science, and there has been things that the bible proclaimed that was denied by science until it was proven thousands of years later.

To be honest, sometimes it takes more faith to believe in science than in God

5482773 I don't have faith in a god, I know one exists, because I've met one before. Therefore I don't need faith or Religion, because I don't understand why I should believe in something that I can never witness. Except for infinite numbers.

5482839 and that is your choice, but there are things that simply ARE that your numbers cannot even begin. To explain, things that science has just gone and "it just is because of reasons!"

In fact one of the founding principles of science is being able to acknowledge that you have no f****** clue. As Einstein said " if a scientist says 'this may be possible', he's almost certainly right. But if he says 'this is impossible' then he is most certainly wrong"
Science, TRUE science is about the lack of certainty and the quest to dissolve that uncertainty I to tangebling evidence.
But just because YOU fail to attain tangeble evidence does not by any means mean that you prove anything, it just means you failed. It does not make you right or wrong, and THAT is science

5482989 Having blind faith is illogical, that is my statement. I'm not saying any religion or belief is certainly wrong, but I am saying if you have no evidence or experience with something your belief becomes illogical.

5483061 perhaps, blind faith is illogical, but FAITH is not.
One can easily look at the questions that cannot be answered and find it logical to assume design rather than coincedence. To look at a faith and see reason is not illogical, sure just hearing someone sY "believe in God because I said so" is just stupid."blind" faith is indeed illogical, but faith in general Is not

5482693 sounds a bit like 'The Truman Show'

5483061 Perhaps you might consider changing your name to Pandora; you not only opened the box, you ripped the lid off and launched it like a Frisbee

As for the question at hand, I say that faith, be it spiritual or philosophical, is the most logical means by which a semi-logical being (such as a human) can cope with a highly illogical world. There are a virtually infinite number of things that pretty much nobody can logically explain, so many fall back on faith rather than dismissing them out of hand (which accomplishes little) or pondering them endlessly (which does even less).

5483485 I wasn't arguing faith in general was illogical, I even had a bit in my paragraph that if you believe for your own reasons/experiences it's completely logical to have faith.

5484766 well then I give to you snuggles!

5484921 I will accept them, I myself have faith.