I, for real, want to know if there are any religious/spiritual people here commenting because yikes. I think a lot of people also interpreted your question to be about organized religion, and specifically christianity of the US variety. Please seek out other religious thoughts - I’ve found much Jewish thought on religion to be of interest. For myself, I’m not christian and not Jewish.
I’m religious because growing up, I adopted the values of the religion I was taught - values of kindness, openness, and inclusion. It’s as core a part of my being as my ways of cooking or socializing. To not be religious would feel like hiding parts of myself.
The routine of following the practices, as well as religion/spirituality being able to help us face the unknown we still have in our lives. It can provide internal strength and belief in our ability. I also find the routine a way to connect to my family, my culture, and to my day-to-day. My religious time is more a time of internal reflection on my own actions and if they align with my values. Do folks without a routine religious/spiritual practice do the same?
The community aspect some touched on is huge. I read a book, Palaces for the People, where it mentioned that those with strong social connections fare better in times of crisis. While there are institutions that are getting to the same influence of religious institutions, they are still far less impactful.
I guess this is all less a belief and more why do people still engage with religion. But why do we believe, what is the act of believing? I don’t have to believe that the sun will rise every morning, but, I do still believe it will rise every morning. Belief is a whole area of study alone I’m sure.
I’m a spiritually-inclined person. Also think it’s totally legit to be atheist. You’d think that actively wanting diversity of belief would be reasonable, but evidently a lot of people just want uniformity and cultural erasure.
I noticed a lot of community/social-oriented aspects in your take on religion, but not “an immortal man literally made the sun move and dance in the sky, and by the way he made that sun” aspects. Could you, as a self-described religious person, see yourself or others separate the community piece from the belief in magic/miracles kind of stuff? I ask because it seems to me that a lot of people take the former as the part they value, and the supernatural stuff is taken as a neccessary add-on without much discussion/consideration (the whole faith thing). I see religious organizations as really successful when they focus on community, but don’t talk much about the supernatural stuff much outside of formal gatherings (mass, temple, mosque, whatever). If not, why religion? Why not just engage with community and ignore the whole omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, kind of stuff?
It seems like you’re equating being religious with everything except accepting theistic claims. You can have everything you’ve mentioned without religion. What OP is asking is why do people accept theistic claims despite there being little to no evidence for them?
I don’t have to believe that the sun will rise every morning, but, I do still believe it will rise every morning
You believe it’ll rise because you have more than thousands of instances of this happening at the same time every day. You didn’t just decide to believe it, you believe it because you found good reasons to believe it.
Try deciding to believe you’re a levitating purple dinosaur. I can’t, can you?
I, for real, want to know if there are any religious/spiritual people here commenting because yikes. I think a lot of people also interpreted your question to be about organized religion, and specifically christianity of the US variety. Please seek out other religious thoughts - I’ve found much Jewish thought on religion to be of interest. For myself, I’m not christian and not Jewish.
I’m religious because growing up, I adopted the values of the religion I was taught - values of kindness, openness, and inclusion. It’s as core a part of my being as my ways of cooking or socializing. To not be religious would feel like hiding parts of myself.
The routine of following the practices, as well as religion/spirituality being able to help us face the unknown we still have in our lives. It can provide internal strength and belief in our ability. I also find the routine a way to connect to my family, my culture, and to my day-to-day. My religious time is more a time of internal reflection on my own actions and if they align with my values. Do folks without a routine religious/spiritual practice do the same?
The community aspect some touched on is huge. I read a book, Palaces for the People, where it mentioned that those with strong social connections fare better in times of crisis. While there are institutions that are getting to the same influence of religious institutions, they are still far less impactful.
I guess this is all less a belief and more why do people still engage with religion. But why do we believe, what is the act of believing? I don’t have to believe that the sun will rise every morning, but, I do still believe it will rise every morning. Belief is a whole area of study alone I’m sure.
I’m a spiritually-inclined person. Also think it’s totally legit to be atheist. You’d think that actively wanting diversity of belief would be reasonable, but evidently a lot of people just want uniformity and cultural erasure.
I noticed a lot of community/social-oriented aspects in your take on religion, but not “an immortal man literally made the sun move and dance in the sky, and by the way he made that sun” aspects. Could you, as a self-described religious person, see yourself or others separate the community piece from the belief in magic/miracles kind of stuff? I ask because it seems to me that a lot of people take the former as the part they value, and the supernatural stuff is taken as a neccessary add-on without much discussion/consideration (the whole faith thing). I see religious organizations as really successful when they focus on community, but don’t talk much about the supernatural stuff much outside of formal gatherings (mass, temple, mosque, whatever). If not, why religion? Why not just engage with community and ignore the whole omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, kind of stuff?
It seems like you’re equating being religious with everything except accepting theistic claims. You can have everything you’ve mentioned without religion. What OP is asking is why do people accept theistic claims despite there being little to no evidence for them?
You believe it’ll rise because you have more than thousands of instances of this happening at the same time every day. You didn’t just decide to believe it, you believe it because you found good reasons to believe it.
Try deciding to believe you’re a levitating purple dinosaur. I can’t, can you?