Why do we need so many religions

[arauca]

Since there is Only one God and we the theists acknowledge Him do we have to bicker among our self on who is wrong and who is wright .
As Jesus said a house that is divides it will fail

Which of the religion followers is going to be with God in heaven ?

Catholics
Protestants
Muslim
Jews
Buddhist
Hindi

 

[S.A.M.]

 

[786]

lmao @ SAM

Any of them could go to heaven- God knows :shrug:

Peace be unto you

 

[S.A.M.]

Okay jokes aside - but really who questions diversity of thought on any matter?

If God so willed, he would have made you a single People, but his plan is to test each of you separately, in what He has given to each of you: so strive in all virtues as in you are in a race. The goal of all of you is to God. It is He that will show you the truth of the matters in which ye dispute. (Qur'an 5:48)

In other words, don't worry about it

 

[spidergoat]

Buddhists aren't theists.

 

[CptBork]

Since there is Only one God and we the theists acknowledge Him do we have to bicker among our self on who is wrong and who is wright .

Indeed, many theists have a fundamental need to bicker. In the total absence of any objective hard evidence, often one who seeks to strengthen their faith will instead seek and relish challenges from other faiths, just like many a macho man will go around picking fights with other macho men in order to prove their own questionable manliness.

Which of the religion followers is going to be with God in heaven ?

Catholics
Protestants
Muslim
Jews
Buddhist
Hindi

How would anyone's answer to this question differ in reasoning from a completely random guess?

 

[arauca]

Buddhists aren't theists.

Why are you saying that ?

In my trip to China I visited several Buddhist temples , the devoted believers burn candles to the statue of Buddha, the put flower and fruits before the state of Buddha. Why do the do that ? if is not for religious purposes

 

[superstring01]

Why do we need so many religions

We don't. In fact, we don't need any at all now that we have the knowledge to understand the basic functions of the universe without resorting to myth.

It's just that those myth's are so damned comfortable and profitable that you won't be seeing them go away anytime soon.

~String

 

[spidergoat]

But Buddha isn't a god.

 

[Yazata]

Since there is Only one God

Atheists think that there's one fewer. Polytheists think that there's more than one. So how do we justify the use of the number 'one'?

and we the theists acknowledge Him

Even if we assume that there's one God, how can somebody be sure that the god that they worship is in fact that God? Do all prayers and devotions end up in the same place provided that the one praying believes in just one God? Or is it still possible to worship a false god, even while stoutly insisting that it's the only god that exists?

And what's up with the word "Him"? There's the gender angle to consider. Why not "Her"? More fundamentally, why should our concept be personalized at all? Why should God be imagined as a giant person, modeled on ourselves? So even if religion ultimately refers to one single divine object, can we exclude the idea that it isn't personal at all? The Neoplatonic One pehaps. Or Brahman from some of the Upanishads.

Which of the religion followers is going to be with God in heaven ?

Assuming God for the sake of argument, is the goal of our religiosity really to end up in some transcendental place called 'heaven"? Many Hindus and Buddhists would question that one.

Having asked all those questions, I'll return to the original question of the subject line:

Why do we need so many religions?

I hope that it's obvious that questions like the ones that I asked can be answered in many different ways. Not all religions have gods. Those that do, needn't have just one. Gods can be imagined, conceptualized and worshipped in countless different ways. Gods needn't be imagined as persons, as giant humans. The ultimate goal, the summum bonum of personal religiosity, might be different in different cases.

So that's why its probably a good thing that we have many different religions. They provide us with multiple alternatives, with different proposed answers, to our questions. Given the likelihood that none of us really possesses the answers, multiple religions allow us to entertain what amount to multiple religious hypotheses.

The world is a bigger and more interesting place with multiple religions in it than it would be if everyone believed in the same thing.

 

[S.A.M.]

The world is a bigger and more interesting place with multiple religions in it than it would be if everyone believed in the same thing.

Yes, that pretty much sums it up. Also its interesting to think about what religion means to different people. For example, what does religion mean to you, arauca? Does it mean that you believe in God? And what does that encompass? Are you a thiest because you think it is the right thing to do? Or are you a thiest because you are afraid of hell? And if you are a thiest, what is your belief in God based on?

Similarly, if you are not a thiest, what is the basis of that belief? Is it the behaviour of other people? Is it because you disagree with an ideology? Is it because you think there cannot be a God or gods? Why do you think so?

So why do we need so many religions? Because they force us to think and recognise that there is more than one opinion on the subject out there.

 

[siledre]

at most one group has it right and the majority of us are screwed, at the least everyone's wrong and we're all screwed, but then again, it may be that it doesn't matter and we're all going to paradise or we're all going nowhere. aside from that, might as well believe in something just in case.

 

[CptBork]

at most one group has it right and the majority of us are screwed, at the least everyone's wrong and we're all screwed, but then again, it may be that it doesn't matter and we're all going to paradise or we're all going nowhere. aside from that, might as well believe in something just in case.

I still don't get why the concept of blissful, ignorant nothingness after death is considered such an abhorrent, awful thing in traditional theistic circles. Do they really think it would be such a wonderful thing to live forever and keep repeating the same things over and over infinitely many times? It almost sounds like one of those horror movies where a psychiatric hospital burns down and becomes permanently haunted by the trapped ghosts of tortured crazy people, except maybe the decor wouldn't be as gaudy.

 

[wynn]

So why do we need so many religions? Because they force us to think and recognise that there is more than one opinion on the subject out there.

Why would it be good/helpful/important to think and recognise that there is more than one opinion on the subject out there?

 

[wynn]

I still don't get why the concept of blissful, ignorant nothingness after death is considered such an abhorrent, awful thing in traditional theistic circles. Do they really think it would be such a wonderful thing to live forever and keep repeating the same things over and over infinitely many times? It almost sounds like one of those horror movies where a psychiatric hospital burns down and becomes permanently haunted by the trapped ghosts of tortured crazy people, except maybe the decor wouldn't be as gaudy.

Could you start a thread on this, please? It's an interesting topic, deserving proper attention.

 

[arauca]

So why do we need so many religions? Because they force us to think and recognise that there is more than one opinion on the subject out there.[/QUOTE]


Yoi did not ask me , but I will stick my 5 cents .

At the beginning we had many religions and many gods , but as our understanding increases we ( humanity ) are reducing the number of variety of religion , and I believe eventually there are going to be even less number of religion , and the final debate will be as it is approaching Theist VS Atheist.

 

[wlminex]

In the same context (religion) the following link, albeit focused on science, may be apropos for the current discussion.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/columnists/jayant-v-narlikar/frontiers-free-inquiry#comment-32200

wlminex

 

[lightgigantic]

Since there is Only one God and we the theists acknowledge Him do we have to bicker among our self on who is wrong and who is wright .
As Jesus said a house that is divides it will fail

Which of the religion followers is going to be with God in heaven ?

Catholics
Protestants
Muslim
Jews
Buddhist
Hindi

kind of like why are there so many approaches to medical ailments

Massage
Injection
Medication
Surgery
Diet
Hygiene

Which one is the correct approach?

IOW demanding that it is necessarily singular is absurd

 

[Anti-Flag]

As Jesus said a house that is divides it will fail

Why should other religions listen to a man they don't believe existed? :shrug:

Since there is Only one God and we the theists acknowledge Him do we have to bicker among our self on who is wrong and who is wright .

You're missing the important point that separates theists from each other.

Does god wear Nikes, or Reeboks?

 

[Fraggle Rocker]

Why are you saying that ? In my trip to China I visited several Buddhist temples , the devoted believers burn candles to the statue of Buddha, the put flower and fruits before the state of Buddha. Why do the do that ? if is not for religious purposes

People light candles at Graceland. That does not make Elvis a god. They put flowers on the graves of their grandparents. That doesn't make their grandparents gods.

My wife is a Buddhist and an atheist. You can take her word for it: Buddha was mortal just like the rest of us.

Other Buddhists are Hindus, Christians and Jews. There are probably a couple of Rastafarian Buddhists, although I don't know if there are any Muslim Buddhists who haven't already been executed for apostasy. Buddha embraced all ways of searching for the truth and would be quite delighted to know about modern science.

The Chinese are masters at integrating motifs from different cultures into something that then becomes Chinese. They have taken the writings of Confucius, the Dao, the teachings of Buddha, and the philosophy of Karl Marx, combined various parts of them, and turned the mix into a system of government and economics that is working rather well for them.