• Question: is religion helpful ?

    Asked by anon-203753 to Alexandra, Dawn, Jane, Matthew, Tirso, Vassilis on 7 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Dawn Rose

      Dawn Rose answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      Religion is undoubtedly helpful to some people, and can be a great way to build community and support people who are in need. But to answer the question more fully, I would need to know what you mean by helpful – i.e., helpful to who, or for what?

    • Photo: Matthew Longo

      Matthew Longo answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      I agree with Dawn that it’s difficult to answer the question about religion being helpful. I am personally not religious, but I do respect that many people have sincere religious beliefs. Asking whether sincere beliefs are helpful or not seems inappropriate and disrespectful. Where I do think that religion has been problematic throughout history is when it has been used cynically as a way to manipulate people. But the fact that religion can be exploited by people acting in bad faith shouldn’t discredit the clear virtues of religion in building communities and helping people in their individual lives.

    • Photo: Jane Aspell

      Jane Aspell answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      I guess it depends what you mean by helpful 🙂 I’m a Christian and now feel able to believe in God and science – something I used to think was not possible. It personally helps me to make sense of the meaning of life.

    • Photo: Vassilis Sideropoulos

      Vassilis Sideropoulos answered on 8 Mar 2019:

      Religion is a very personal subject, and I would say that it has been noticed that it is very helpful for some people and not for others. The word helpful has different meanings, so it’s a bit difficult to answer this question fully. Why don’t you ask us again in more detail? 😊

    • Photo: Tirso Gonzalez Alam

      Tirso Gonzalez Alam answered on 10 Mar 2019:

      I agree with all the answers above pretty much. Religion is something immensely personal. I am not religious myself, and I’m happy with my life and my morality, so I guess it wouldn’t be of much use to me. But I know some people who are religious and they have found support, community and a sense of meaning in their faith. I’d say it’s pretty helpful to them, so yeah, it depends on helpful for what and who you ask.

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