Why is Religion so Effective?

[SSanf]

Since there is no provable reason to believe in most religions, what is it about religion that makes it so effective?

[Toby Stimpson]

Its the mysterious aspect... and the community aspect.

Human beings are hard wired in two ways... they want to test and prove the natural world... but they also want to make sense out of chaos.

Religion, because it is such an ancient institution... is there to explain or talk to the mysterious aspects of life that science cannot explain. When religion first started out as spirit worship in caves, or as Sunworship... it was a way to explain and seek guidance from an unknowable force that knows everything...even if we ourselves do not.

When I think of religion, and I like to study all manner of religious and spiritual forms, one thing that strikes me is that it is as much a community part as it is otherwise. Religion uinites people that have nothing else in common in the community becasue it doesnt encessarily mean divulging or putting forth your own personality (it can but most often than not it doesnt)... it involves veneration, for the most part, of soemthing that is beyond you. In that way different people come together in a single place or similar places and become a group, a community, a tribe.

Religion in an anthropological and sociological view is one of the building blocks for culture. Culture and religion is intrinsicly linked... and the most powerful and long standing cukltures on our planet have always been religious cultures. The Chinese, the Indian cultures, Roman, Greek...etc,. They were all very invovled with their religions and have now changed very little. Western society is the remnant of the Roman culture, the religion changed buyt the ideas still remain.

I dont think I've completly done justice to the idea and opinion in my mind right now...but all i can say is that people who live in a world and may not be able to leave that corner of the world to see other things will look to a religion to provide entertainment and understanding and guidance for their lives. This is both negetuive and positive... negetive in that fundamentalism often occurs in small isolated areas... positive in that it becomes a kind of hope for those people. Its a way to connect with the world in a non provable way... to explain why some things are without having to take time to prove otherwise. That is the power of religion. religion really is neutral, how people percieve it... thats what makes it either powerful or weak.

[David19]

I think religion helps people connect to the unknown, to help them get a sense of themselves, of who they are, what direction they should go in. It helps, in most cases, to organize and structure a community, for example, with the Jews, the worship of YHWH united all the Hebrews in one religion and made them more of a community instead of pursuing their own seperate goals.

Also, religion has a psychological effect, IMO, too. For example, if you are really depressed or have something wrong with you, the power of belief can cause "miracles" such as suddenly getting a new lease on life.

I think Galadraal answered it better than me, though :).

[Trithemius]

I think a big part of it is the hope it offers. The hope of continuance after death, and the hope that divine intervention will help people out of a situation they feel they have no control over.

[Shanti]

It pacifies insecurities.
Heck just the thought of dying and not taking the love with you seem to scare the beejeebers out of people, from my observations.
IMO people are so attached to their emotions, the world, that they need to take pieces with them into eternity. They need to meet loved ones on the other side and such.

All insecurity based on the fear of not existing anymore.
Most religions share some after death something. They use the insecurity, the fear, to get people to follow.

The benefit for religion, control, power, money.

[plumedsnake]

Since there is no provable reason to believe in most religions, what is it about religion that makes it so effective?

So effective at what? At organising society? Or at empowering people? Or imprisoning people? Making people hopeful?

Maybe you don't mean what makes it effective but rather what makes it so persistent and pervading.

[Toby Stimpson]

I also think whats important is to see how each and every religion offers something to people. I mean Christianity offers salvation...and for those who feel guiilty it could be appealing. Buddhism offers salvation ina different way, through focus...etcetc,.

I also think whats important is that Religion is a family thing to. Its a tradition, and traditions are hard and easy not to let go of. People feel that becasue religionss are so ancient, it's a link to their pasts... and no one would want a life without a heritage or past.

[plumedsnake]

Its the mysterious aspect... and the community aspect.


Many people still experience the mystery of life without subscribing to any religion. All you got to do is read a book about astronomy and ponder the vastness of the universe. Many societies are organised with religion too. By organised societies I don't mean just cities and nations but also guilds, clubs, cartels and various other ways that people get together for a common purpose. Some of these societies are organised along religious lines and others aren't. . . . . Actually now I think a bit more, we will need to define what we mean by religion. Is religion just a set of creeds that you must subscribe to in order to belong? Or would any social ceremony be considered religious. Would say the coronation of a king be considered a religious ceremony. Heck, the very existence of a monarchy is usually based on religion. Or has religion just been used to justify it. What about Caste system, and other divine social orders?
Some guilds, like the blacksmiths in Yorubaland, are heavily religious professions, but the same profession in other cultures don't have much of a religious overtone.

[plumedsnake]

I think a big part of it is the hope it offers. The hope of continuance after death, and the hope that divine intervention will help people out of a situation they feel they have no control over.

I don't see why you'd need a whole bigassed religion to offer this. It could just be part of your world view, like there are people on land and fish in the sea: there are living people in this world and dead people in the other world. Why does that need to be religious?

What makes a belief or a cosmology religious? Why isn't the big bang theory part of a religion?

[Toby Stimpson]

I don't see why you'd need a whole bigassed religion to offer this. It could just be part of your world view, like there are people on land and fish in the sea: there are living people in this world and dead people in the other world. Why does that need to be religious?

What makes a belief or a cosmology religious? Why isn't the big bang theory part of a religion?

The question was though what makes religion so popular... not the validity of the message of religion but what it does offer. Religion does offer hope... religion is a way of bringing that spiritual side over. Whether or not religions actually do this or are the only ones is debateable...but for the purposes of this question I agree with Trimethius. Religions do all of these things... not to say that it is exclusivly that.

[Trithemius]

I don't see why you'd need a whole bigassed religion to offer this. It could just be part of your world view, like there are people on land and fish in the sea: there are living people in this world and dead people in the other world. Why does that need to be religious?

What makes a belief or a cosmology religious? Why isn't the big bang theory part of a religion?

It's not a matter of why you need a religion to offer this, it's just that these are things religion does offer that draw people to it.

By the way, some people (creationists) do consider the big bang theory to be part of a religion, namely the religion of evolution.

[Xentor]

Since there is no provable reason to believe in most religions, what is it about religion that makes it so effective?

Wait... there is no provable reason to believe? There's lots of reasons to believe!

Please don't confuse the lack of falsifiability inside the religious dogmas with the effects of religions in culture and society. One may dismiss a religion when validated against scientism, but from a cultural view-point religions have a measurable effect.

Or maybe that was the point of the post :)

[SSanf]

Actually, I meant there is no scientifically provable or tangible reason to believe. Yet, people believe anyway. And, as a result of that belief, they do things and change their lives to follow their belief, sometimes, in ways that are even to their own personal detriment. That is what I mean by effective.

Why would people do that? What makes religion so effective at impacting behavior?

I do think it has something to do with being a part of an identifiable group.

[Toby Stimpson]

Actually, I meant there is no scientifically provable or tangible reason to believe. Yet, people believe anyway. And, as a result of that belief, they do things and change their lives to follow their belief, sometimes, in ways that are even to their own personal detriment. That is what I mean by effective.

Why would people do that? What makes religion so effective at impacting behavior?

I do think it has something to do with being a part of an identifiable group.

That and the fact that people are born and grow up with it. This has a big impact. If you are told from birth a certain thing, and experiance a certain thing such as going to Mosque, going to Church etc,. Your likely to follow that. If you do end up not believing or converting, then theres something in you thats being attarcted to the thing you go after.

[plumedsnake]

The question was though what makes religion so popular... .

I did wonder about that because effective could mean different things. Well not only is it effective at gaining popularity but what I think is most important and isn't been considered is the fact that it is also effective in bringing about real changes in peoples lives.

If someone is dying of cancer and the doctors say no hope, and then the person goes to a witch doctor with the result that 2 months later the doctors are flabbergasted and exclaim that it's a miracle then that is an effective impact of religion.

Religion will be effective for as long as people continue to have numinous experience. For as long as people continue to be filled with wonder at the universe, and at existence. For as long as life and the experience of living continues to be a mystery. For as long as people need an explanation for psychic abilities. Out of Body experiences, trances, spirit possession, accurate prophecy, spirit transmissions. These are all facts of life. Not everyone has them and not to the same degree and they are often not subject to scientific examination but they do occur. And for as long as they occur people will seek an explanation of the universe that accomodates these things and religion is the only discipline that even attempts to grapple with these things.