Ray wrote:Daryl, I like your use of the word "relevance". I see your point. Although I side with Carl on this one, it's true that modern western society is informed by, amongst other tomes, the bible (be good and all that). I'm sure the Quran is also influential in providing guidance (muslims in the UK, for example, pay tithes (zakat) to benefit charitable causes.
However, I agree with Carl. The bible, God, Jesus et al are utterly irrelevant to me and about 90% of my friends. We don't believe in gods or spiritual beings. We see religions as frequently corrupting. We see churches as beautiful buildings, but are unimpressed with what goes on inside. In that sense, Carl is correct.
In the UK, religion is a receding concept. Last year, a survey found that 53% of Britons did not have a religion. For under-24s, that number rises to 71%.
I'm delighted that many people can find peace and comfort with a faith system. I wouldn't seek to change their views. However if someone quoted Deuteronomy at me, I'd probably look at them as if they were unhinged.
Yeah, me too. I'd also wonder why he or she wanted to assert dominance in that moment, and why they would choose such means to do it with.
I think this is what our understanding of religion has been reduced to: "faith systems" or "beliefs in gods". I think most of us (myself included) merrily and blithely ignore our own religious views because they are not so easy to identify, or to identify as religious, because they aren't represented by any organised encapsulation that confesses religiosity. We believe in things like logic, arithmetic, beauty, love, fairness, the individual, causality, and essence, but we may consider these "facts" not mere "beliefs".
Seeing a wider range of possible ways of understanding religious scripture has made me more willing to view it as part of our wisdom heritage than as merely optional ideological foundations or superstitions.
As for damaging the views that give peace and comfort to many, I don't see any options. The views held by people today evolved over time. Violence was done to old ideas (and sometimes to the people who held them). By even discussing this I am risking doing damage to someone's views.
Here's a question worth wondering about, I think. Did religion influence society, or was it influenced
by it, or was it some combination of both?