Religion is more than just a belief in a flying spaghetti monster. There's also philosophy and morality. Some get a sense of community from it.
If you just look at a religion and just say, "well it's all made up and doesn't matter", then you're missing the point. All of those people typically think the same way and act the same way.
You don't need religion for morality, nor philosophy though. Especially not any particular religion. Those things existed long before any modern religion existed, and will exist after. One doesn't need to believe in such things to know not to kill or steal, because generally people understand the harm that comes with it. In addition, the morality you speak varies wildly from religion to religion, indicating how dependent it is on opinion rather than fact.
Many Catholics think the current pope is incorrect with regards to his morality and philosophy, but who are they to say he is incorrect? They may disagree, but how do they know that their god has abandoned what they considered to be canon, and the new philosophy is the correct one? There is no static morality, whether we're talking about in space or time, so that argument doesn't really hold much weight. It's not something that is universally and independently quantifiable.
Where do you think your personal morality and philosophy came from? You didn't come up with it. You were born into the western world which has a culture that was shaped by Christianity.
That's not true, even infants show semblances of morality before they can even talk. Morality is more genetic than it is cultural, as we have evolved to be a tribal species. In addition, most Christian morality actually came from the religions that came before it. Do you believe in the ten commandments? Well, that's Jewish philosophy. Do you subscribe to the moral lesson behind the flood myth? Well, that's Sumerian philosophy. You guys really have no idea where the core ideas of your religion come from; they predate history itself.
All religion is worthless. Believe in god if you want, but all religions are human constructs.
Religion is more than just a belief in a flying spaghetti monster. There's also philosophy and morality. Some get a sense of community from it.
If you just look at a religion and just say, "well it's all made up and doesn't matter", then you're missing the point. All of those people typically think the same way and act the same way.
You don't need religion for morality, nor philosophy though. Especially not any particular religion. Those things existed long before any modern religion existed, and will exist after. One doesn't need to believe in such things to know not to kill or steal, because generally people understand the harm that comes with it. In addition, the morality you speak varies wildly from religion to religion, indicating how dependent it is on opinion rather than fact.
Many Catholics think the current pope is incorrect with regards to his morality and philosophy, but who are they to say he is incorrect? They may disagree, but how do they know that their god has abandoned what they considered to be canon, and the new philosophy is the correct one? There is no static morality, whether we're talking about in space or time, so that argument doesn't really hold much weight. It's not something that is universally and independently quantifiable.
Where do you think your personal morality and philosophy came from? You didn't come up with it. You were born into the western world which has a culture that was shaped by Christianity.
That's not true, even infants show semblances of morality before they can even talk. Morality is more genetic than it is cultural, as we have evolved to be a tribal species. In addition, most Christian morality actually came from the religions that came before it. Do you believe in the ten commandments? Well, that's Jewish philosophy. Do you subscribe to the moral lesson behind the flood myth? Well, that's Sumerian philosophy. You guys really have no idea where the core ideas of your religion come from; they predate history itself.