Question for atheists: Do you think religion brings any benefits to society at all?
I think that in past times, it served (not too well) as a rough, primitive form of morality; gave some structure to society; served as a focus of charitable activities; preserved a lot of written works (admittedly mostly religious) during a time of near-universal illiteracy; provided opportunities for education; etc. By “past times,” I’m talking about the pre-Renaissance era. Nowadays there are other institutions that can do those things far better. People have, in general, “socially evolved” beyond the need for religion. It’s an idea whose time has come and gone, and is now obsolete.
I’ve actually given a lot of thought to this. Of course there are some good things that religion enables but the duping of the human race isn’t worth it. Clearly there is a benefit to a lot of people who need some sort of comfort beyond reality. I expect those people who primarily make decisions based on feelings and not logic need some sort of input that makes them feel good. That is not a slam on people who are “feelers” they pose an important role in our society. No, I just question why it needs to be a fictitious floating farce in the sky. If we really want to rid the human race of the silliness that is religion we need to devise a substitute that provides the same sort of feel good dogma without the supreme being rhetoric and subversion.
