Note: This topic basically only concerns the Abrahamic religions, in which an almighty god is involved.

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Every single day, billions of people practice their religious faith in one way or another. Most of these practices tend to be unharmful but, as reality shows, that is not always the case. Some people pray, some people go to church, some people avoid certain food, some people avoid birth control, some people circumcise their children and so on. What they all have in common is that they adjust their own lifestyles in order to satisfy the religious group that they belong to, which in turn they do to please God.

What they probably have not done though is to question the logic behind their practicing. If you, for instance, asked them why they do it, then the most common answer would probably be something like: "Because God told us to do it. God is almighty, so there is no reason to why we would listen to anyone but Him." However, the illogical flaw has already been revealed at this point: God never told them to do anything. It was their ancestors, family or friends who introduced them to their current faith shortly after they were born. Or they discovered their faith later on in life due to an unpredicted outside source.

Let's try to break this down for a bit. Let's say that all who had faith died for whatever reason and that all Bibles and other signs of religion where destroyed (Historically, similar things have already happened, so it is actually not a completely unrealistic scenario). This would leave no reason for upcoming generations to have any faith in any of today's religions. Instead, they would either be atheist or make up their own religions, which in turn is passed down to the next generations. But what happens to the Abrahamic God at that point, assuming that He indeed does exist? I mean, He would still judge people by their actions, am I right?

At this point, all that matters is if people are good or not. Religious practice does no longer exist, but God still recognize all people for their good actions. And this can already be applied to people today who are born outside of Christian, Muslim or Jewish societies. If the religious practice indeed did matter, then that would either:

A) give an unjust advantage to people who are born in Christian, Muslim or Jewish societies (depending on your faith) or

B) make religious practice necessary only to those who are exposed to it. Making it an actual burdon, as in: "You know how I want people to live, now go tell those who don't or you will be punished, and they will be forgiven because of your unwillingness to act.", giving the non-believers an actual reason not to believe......

Conclusions: Religious practice is simply an unfair system. And just like asking God for help, it gives you nothing but self-pleasure; an illusion that God is extra close to you since you are reaching out to Him. In reality though, it is actually nothing but selfish actions made in order to make it more likely that you will enter heaven, as if those who do not perform these action are less likely to do so. They think that those who trust a god other than God are committing a severe sin, despite the fact that they really do not even have the possibility to do otherwise.

That, my friends, makes no sense.

I apologise for only having read your final points, but i would like to say this about it: The only sense it makes is that people are afraid of death. Its more conforting to believe in something than to not believe anything, even if it makes you do ridiculous things i guess it brings a sense of security.

Of course, we know this is useless, but i understand. I'm atheist but i do hope something like a god exists. He is not the god that forces me to worship and kill for him though. God is the epitome of understanding, safety, wisdom, forgiveness and power over the realities. I hope he exists, but i only need to study a bit of physics and astronomy to understand that this universe is an order born of chaos that will go back to chaos. There is no escaping it, and there is no god... unless he hides really well though. As we cannot deny that wich were cant 100% disprove (since god is such an abstract notion).

I guess one thing is correct. We come from atoms/elements and we will go back to beeing atoms/elements. That is the only "afterlife" there is. We as sentient beeings will unfortunely cease to have awareness. Its the sad thruth of our reality. It sucks, but theres nothing we can do about it, but live on.

Jay520 said:
Again, you're have made no connection between religious practice & fearing hell. All you've said is practicing religion is a tool for avoiding hell is the only reason that makes sense. All you're saying is "its the only thing that makes sense" without actually explaining why it makes sense. When you can actually provide a logical bridge between A.) religious practice & B.) avoiding Hell, then we can get some where. But currently, you're just saying the same thing in different ways.

You just drew an incorrect conclusion from what I have said. The underlined does not make sense according to my OP. The only thing that makes sense is so obvious that it's not even worth mentioning, yet you keep bringing it up (which is that people get positive mental effects from religious practicing). Why would I provide a bridge between your point A and B when the entire OP is based on my theory that there is no connection between the two?


Part of being religious means loving God. And part of Loving anyone means having a desire to please them, simply because you want to. Thus, there is religious practicing, which pleases God.

That is the point of my entire OP. Religious practicing does not please God and might as well be ignored.

Surely, there must have been a misunderstanding?

Jay520 said:

You've been associating A & B all along when there is no association. YOU are the one that establish the premise that people practice religion because they think it'll get them into heaven. I've been challenging that premise. I've been saying that people practice religion not because of fearing hell. YOU are the one saying people practice religion to avoid hell. When I asked you to explain your reasoning, you said it was the only thing that made sense.

I am also the one saying that they do so for nothing (well, except self-pleasuring), even if they think that they do. Also, they don't mainly do it to avoid punishments, but to be rewarded, as mentioned time after time.

Just because it doesn't increase your chances of getting into heaven, doesn't mean it doesn't please God. For example, going out of your way to teach a child how to read won't necessarily decide if you get into heaven, but it will surely be an act that God likes. Same goes for religious practicing (praying, worshipping, studying the bible). These things won't necessarily decide you chances of getting into heaven, but God certainly appreciates the act. And in a lot of cases, people enjoy doing it too. Because they enjoy pleasing God & they may just enjoy doing the act in and of itself. With this in mind, people don't practice religion to avoid Hell. They do it because they want heaven.

Still, you do share one point with the OP, which is the underlined. One may question the value of pleasing God through religious practicing though if it won't have any positive effects at all (for the millionth time; other than mental pleasure). Which leaves the OP's point that one may leave the whole worshipping part altogether (by destroying all evidence of religion).

A TRUE Christian, Jew, Muslim practices religion because they want to, and NOT because they feel it's a necessity to get them into heaven.

Still, they do want to get into heaven, am I right? It wouldn't make sense to be a Christian and don't care about where you will end up once you die.