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Originally Posted by powerclown
What's so wrong about that? I enjoy myths...I enjoy tales of fiction.
At the very least, why not take the unknowable and use it your advantage?
Leverage it however way you feel it helps you out. Make something out of nothing.
Like ShaniFaye said above, the easy thing is to ignore and rebel.
It seems to me that by simply casting it all off as bogus, one is rejecting a potential source of psychological and spiritual enrichment.
Seems counterproductive.
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I don't believe I said there was anything wrong with it, per se. Rather I was identifying what I believe religion to be: a series of codified myths and legends that we tell ourselves so that we might understand the unknowable.
The two big ones are where did we come from and what happens when we die. ALL religions have answers for these two questions. Most go beyond that and prescribe a way to live, a code of ethics and morality.
On the whole you are right, it does seem that ignoring this is easy. Cast all of it away and follow no systemic, prescribed path. This would be true if those who leave (or never find) religion were just "rebellious" and with out any sense of morality. I don't hold that you need religion to know what is right and what is wrong.
I have just *never* found religion useful. I have read the bible and I have gone to church. I have studied the new and old testament in University and spent time looking into other religions (from Mormons to Buddhist and back again). Some of them have some interesting ideas about how to live life but I could never get over their basic tenets of higher powers, afterlife, etc.
I might as well believe in fairies down in the garden.
So, on one hand, yes, it is easier to not choose a path to follow. I don't have to cover my head when I am outside, attended a weekly or daily service, pledge allegiance to a higher power, devote myself to a life of poverty or any of the various and sundry rules that come with all the various flavours of religious life.
But to stretch the analogy further, my path isn't laid out for me. I don't have a light at the end of my journey. Heck, I don't even have a path to follow. I am figuring it out as I go along. There is no reward (or punishment) waiting for me. There is no afterlife or regeneration. I wish there was an afterlife it would be a lot easier to live with regrets if I knew that I'd get a second chance.
I just cannot live my life based on a fiction. This may seem counterproductive to you but to me it's all I've got.