An Uncommon Opinion: In Defence of Religion

Nowadays if you were to ask people if there's one thing in this world they would like to get rid of, most oftentimes the majority of them would say "religion".

I disagree with them. Here's the thing, most wars are actually caused by struggles between different political ideologies, not religion. Even without religion, there would still be wars. If there was one thing in this world that should be rid of though, it would have to be IMMORALITY, the cause of the downfall of humanity, the root of all problems within our world. If there wasn't immorality then there wouldn't be a need for religions to protect and bring back righteous order. Immorality (includes porn, prostitution, sexual violence, pedophilia, incest, infidelity, greed, etc...) When you eliminate immorality, you pretty much eliminate 99.9% of human-related problems. Wild animals would benefit from this as well because they wouldn't be abused by humans nor have their homes destroyed for the purpose of profit driven by human greed. Religion has actually done a lot of good for the following reasons: 1) It actually helped people clean up their life. Helped people recover from drug abuse including porn addiction. Helped kids get out of trouble on the streets—reduces gang and drug violence. Helped get prostitutes out of the sex industry. 2) Provides social and emotional support for likeminded people (in this case believers). Creates a safe space for them away from the hectic life or immoral world. 3) Provides a great networking opportunity for business people and people who just want to make positively influential friends or maintain a social life. 4) Gathers people to volunteer or donate to charitable causes. 5) Strongly encourages a healthy lifestyle as well as exercising self-discipline...this is an incredibly good thing especially considering how many humans go through stress, depression, and/or anxiety in their daily lives. Prayer is a great way to cope with stress and anger (provided you have faith and if you don't, that can be developed. If you don't have a great understanding of the bible or gospel including the moral lessons within it, I highly recommend getting a mentor for that—they are free of cost and can be easily found in any religious institution). Reading scriptures or looking up specific scriptures online (i.e. Google "bible scriptures dealing with stress") is another good way to look for advice or improve one's mood. Spiritual death can have devastating consequences on mental health, which is linked to physical health. 6) Provides hope for people. With less hope, people are more inclined to become depressed and/or commit suicide. Studies have shown that atheist-based countries tend to have the highest depression and suicide rates (i.e Iceland, Japan) . 7) Strongly defends and encourages family values...decreases the chance of parents getting divorce. Brings families closer together. Decreases family problems. 8) Decreases the likelihood of kids getting into all sorts of trouble before adulthood. Helps prevent them from growing up too fast the wrong way. 9) Religious scriptures have A LOT of wisdom to offer and it gives a good lesson on history. Because history tends to repeat itself, it is important to have a good knowledge on history as we want to prevent the same mistakes from happening again. 10) Most religions encourage a solid moral foundation because of their rejection of moral relativism in favour of more "black and white" principles such as moral absolutism and moral universalism. Can't expect a stable society without a stable moral foundation. 11) Religions discusses what science ignores and explains what science cannot. Religion consists of spirituality, and spirituality goes beyond the realms of physical matter whereas science is only limited to the human eye and human technology. Even the human eye and human technology alone is unable to reveal certain frequencies. Science mostly focuses on the "how". (i.e. How does it work?) Religion mostly focuses on the "why" (i.e. Why is it wrong?) This is why both religion and science are so important and neither one should be ignored nor given face value. Both science and religion are important...and in many ways they go hand-in-hand. ....and these are some if not most of the reasons why I support religion. —Empress Cynthelestia