Religious for the right reasons?

Ok I'm not a religious person, but I do get into conversations with religious people sometimes. One thing that does bother me though is that some of the people I've talked to appear to have become christian for fear of being condemned to hellfire for eternity, which brings me to ask: Should one be compelled to be become religious, or join a religion, out of fear?

What's your opinion on this?

There are many reasons why people chose to become religious....the best ones I know are "community" and "social"

Others (like yours truly) choses to learn and understand the knowledge and insight different religions offer.

Some would say fear of eternal punishment....others would say to avoid rebirth and finding eternal wisdom.

I do it for intellectual reasons.

Originally posted by WrathfulDwarf
I do it for intellectual reasons.

An unconventional reason. But perhaps given your reasoning in the post, one of the best answers I've ever heard.

Originally posted by AngryManatee
Ok I'm not a religious person, but I do get into conversations with religious people sometimes. One thing that does bother me though is that some of the people I've talked to appear to have become christian for fear of being condemned to hellfire for eternity, which brings me to ask: Should one be compelled to be become religious, or join a religion, out of fear?

What's your opinion on this?

Fear is a great way to recruit.

Not really, it doesn't work that well on people with functional brains.

Originally posted by Nellinator
Not really, it doesn't work that well on people with functional brains.

Sure it does.

Fear doesn't equal stupid.

Originally posted by Alliance
Fear is a great way to recruit.

There is possible corelational evidence of a link between religious belief and schizophrenia...

then again...

http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/070424_religion_kids.html

Originally posted by inimalist
There is possible corelational evidence of a link between religious belief and schizophrenia...

I think you're twisting statistics there. Schitzophrenic people are probably likely to be religious due to thinking they have a connection to the divine but that doesn't mean that there is an especially high likelyhood of religious people being schitzophrenic.

possibly

I wrote a paper last year somewhat implying that there is no difference diagnostically between someone with a personal relationship with god and someone who suffered from bizarre delusions.

The corelation is probably more likely caused from these people having underlying problems that their religion prevents them from dealing with. In a lot of cases schizophrenia is caused by stress (dopamine problems), if religion is a case of continuous strife in someone's life, especially during major changes in their life.

I think I was being glib. the article I linked to has a link to the fact that religious people are happier and live longer. Religion seems rather healthy 😉 and yes I do understand how simplified that corelation is

Originally posted by inimalist
and yes I do understand how simplified that corelation is

and yet it has its' merits all the same. i have said the same before and think it still has logical basis in a moderate rone

Originally posted by chithappens
and yet it has its' merits all the same. i have said the same before and think it still has logical basis in a moderate rone

well, the benefit are more related to the fact that religious communities are normally tight nit and take care of each other.

There is no reason that one cannot gain the same benefits in a strong peer group, but even the idea of something like confession must be so relieving cognitively.

It has been shown that many fanatical religious people have deep emotional problems. They attend church hoping to get well, that god would heal them, though they might not tell you this.

I don't need a study to know that. Experience will show ya

Originally posted by debbiejo
It has been shown that many fanatical religious people have deep emotional problems. They attend church hoping to get well, that god would heal them, though they might not tell you this.

I dunno. Isn't a dependacy on anything considered to be unhealthy?

Not religion. Religion has a high positive correlation with happiness. However, those probably aren't the idiot fanatics. Dependancy in usually considered bad, but the circumstance determines whether it is healthy or not. As much as I hate to say it, dependancy isn't always bad.

In what cases is dependency ok?

I would disagree

many of the beliefs and rituals, when removed from the religious context, would be considered abnormal and symptomatic of delusional thinking.

It is possible that an intertwined group that shares a massive delusion with the ability to remove individual stress is just beneficial to people being happy. However, I would still argue that many parts of that faith are indistinguishable from mental illness.

Originally posted by chithappens
In what cases is dependency ok?

Originally posted by inimalist
I would disagree

many of the beliefs and rituals, when removed from the religious context, would be considered abnormal and symptomatic of delusional thinking.

It is possible that an intertwined group that shares a massive delusion with the ability to remove individual stress is just beneficial to people being happy. However, I would still argue that many parts of that faith are indistinguishable from mental illness.