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This week we've explored faith in a number of ways. We've talked about understanding religions other than your own, and the new ways politicians and faith-based organizations are working together. On this program we get to the real heart of the matter: what do you believe, and why? And if that faith has ever been shaken, what's helped you to hold on, to not give up?
Are you a Catholic concerned with the way the Church views the role of women? Or a Muslim challenged by the lack of understanding of your faith? Have you faced the death of a loved one, and questioned why? What has your struggle been? And if you didn't give up on your faith, what helped you hold on? Did your understanding of your faith change? How?
This show was recorded in front of a studio audience on Monday October 4th. The audience screened part of the upcoming documentary series, God In America, then stuck around to discuss what happened when their faith was challenged.
Photo credit: Mashroor Nitol / Creative Commons
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Sorry, I didn't address any of the questions.
I draw great comfort from a dream I had 38 years ago that seemed to show a spiritual reality along side of our physical reality. In it the conflicts and struggles of physical existance were non issues. The phyiscal life seemed to serve the function of giving us something of unique spiritual substance to share in the spiritual realm. It didn't seem to matter how painful or torturous the life, from a spiritual perspective it was all good. It was as if everybody got what they needed from this life to go on.
I'm still trying to 'save the world', but I no longer make my self sick over it.
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What do I believe in?
Do I believe in God? No. I believe it doesn't really matter. If you believe in one god or a hundred gods or none, what should really matter most is if you are a good person.
Do I believe in a Heaven or Hell? Kind of, but not in the way most people think. I believe that heaven and hell are created by humans; and that it can exist here on earth. If people are mean to each other and don't care about their fellow creatures on this earth they have created hell, not just for the suffering but for all. If people are kind and loving toward each other, they have then created a type of heaven. Think about that poor starving child half-way across the world, bloated from malnutrition, flies around her face, and tell me if she is not already living in hell. Then imagine that same child, healthy from the food and medicine that she and her family needs to survive, now able to attend school, and she will probably tell you that she is living in heaven. The world is what we make it. And, though, I don't believe in an actual heaven in the sky or a hell beneath our feet, I believe that humans have the ability to make this world a heaven or a hell.
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That is essentially what Jesus taught in the Thomas Gospel. Words something like "the Kingdom of Heaven is on earth and mankind does not see it", and the Kingdom of heaven is inside man and he does not know it".
Around 230 CE, a fellow named Irenaeus gathered up all of the gospels he did not like and burned them, keeping only the big four; but luckily someone hid the gospel of Thomas, which was found as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls around 1930 or so.
In other words, like you say, we're it!
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There are no ATHEIST in foxholes.
The proliferation of unchurched and areligious citizens in America and Europe probably relates to increased comfort, wealth, and security that we enjoy. In Europe, after generations of World Wars and nationalistic wars dating back a millenium--more recently with Charlemagne, Napolean, and Hitler--now French, German and English leaders are united in a superstate EU. European war has never been farther from reality. The people do not feel threatened. None have tasted war in over 60 years and none have living memory of starvation, Holocaust, or machine gun fire.
We are a World Superpower. We have the most powerful weapons ever concieved in history--we can destroy the entire planet inside a half hour. We have the richest economy in the history of the world. Science has let us change genes, travel to the moon and dive to the bottom of the ocean and drill a few miles further. Electricity gives us magical devices. The world's total information is at our fingertips. We have a million friends(on facebook)...We are Super Men. We are Superstars. And we are DemiGods. Who needs a Supreme Being?
We see cycles of atheism and relgiousity and nothing is new. Read Nietsche's tract from 200 years ago. Parents are discouraged when their youngsters turn away from their faith. And hippies are perplexed when their adult children join a Megachurch in the South.
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There are no Atheists in foxholes? Really?
Here's some websites full of Atheists in Foxholes:
http://www.maaf.info/expaif.html
http://www.atheistnexus.org/group/foxholeatheists
http://www.ffrf.org/outreach/atheists-in-foxholes/
A simple google search will find you stories as well:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97992274
http://www.americanhumanist.org/who_we_are/about_humanism/I_Was_an_Atheist_in_a_Foxhole
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Think the last time you felt a serious void and existential threat. For most of us, it was very piquant and precise moment: The Day After 9/11. People were lighting candles, having silent vigils, hugging loved ones and telling them: " I Love You," saying goodbye as if it may be the last time, putting up photcopied American flags on their car windows, and packing in the churches and worship services.
People who experience NEAR DEATH and EXISTENTIAL THREATS cannot afford the luxury of atheism. Coal miners, Soldiers in Iraq, and Policeman patroling South Central LA have real everyday fears and most have faith and a relationship to God. Most of us do not feel that TODAY could be our last day on earth. There are two types of young women who wear pendant Chrisitian Crosses: Minister daughters or girls raised firmly in the faith. And prostitutes, who do not know if their next John is a serial killer. And faith is important to them as the soldier in a fox hole.
Read about the trapped miners in Chile. Only the essentials could be accomodated and it includes food, water, light, medicines, clothing and a dry place to sleep. But also social orgnaizations with leadership, a job or task to perform, and SPIRITUAL and FAITH Guidance. Psychologist found that belief was essential to maintaining hope and mental health.
But the worm turns. When life gets hard, people turn to Faith. And this Great Recession, Unemployment, Energy Crisis, Unpopular Wars, Global Warming, Declining Wealth, and Shrinking of the American Dream is once again filling churches that the boom times emptied.
Personal Disclosure: I am a believer and practice faith.
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People using religion as a crutch doesn't say much about the truth of religion. People also turn to pseudoscience, scam artists pedaling "cures", superstitions, and fake medical advice on the internet when they get terminally sick. That doesn't make the fake cures true.
Many people with intellectual integrity maintain their atheism on their deathbeds. Christopher Hitchens is a good example. http://blog.beliefnet.com/beliefbeat/2010/09/fun-friday-atheist-christopher-hitchens-still-alive-kicking-and-blaspheming.html
Recent studies have shown that it's not religion that helps people maintain good mental health, but confidence in their beliefs. Those who are confident are happy, those who are capricious are not. Atheists were found to be just as happy as the religious. Here's a study for you to look at: http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=galen_29_5
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One of the most important aspects of faith is that it is hopeful. And, religion is an organized or branded hope. I think the power of faith is in its hopeful quality---the potentional for something more, for something better. As Jacob alludes to, it is often during the bad times that people turn to faith and belief, because it is a hope for something more. And it is particularly in circumstances where this is no viable outcome, or resolution, that people use faith. People don’t stop and pray in a burning building if there is an apparent way out---if there is a way out we first run for the exit. It is when people are stuck and can’t see an out that they turn to faith most often. Which really makes sense, but what doesn’t make sense, is using these examples of people turning to faith as a truth, or a suggestion that faith is somehow a fact.
What seems like the best conclusion is that when people are in bad situations there is nothing left to do but hope, and it just so happens that religious faith is the McDonalds of hope. Many children believe in legendary creatures, lucky charms, and fairies---and many believe their binky will protect them---but, even though those things may bring comfort to children, they may give them hope, and make them feel safe, these positive qualities don’t speak to their validity. Because people often use faith during powerful times, many have mistakenly confused faith with power, when really faith is more akin to emotional desperation, it is the symptom of a person with few other options. The only power is really in the faith or hope itself, not in its conclusions and expectations.
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Up until the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution establishing the US, Religion was always an arm of or the actual government.
It is useful to think of it like a ventriloquist and his puppet. The king, caesar, monarch, pope, tsar, rulers in general, would pray to god, and the god-puppet would always give an answer that benefitted the ruler. So in effect the ruler was just passing along what god wanted the people to do, and isn't it nice that god always wanted The People to do what the ruler wanted The People to do?
Unfortunately, Conservative Ronald Reagan brought that back into government; and example being G W Bush declaring War against Iraq and then saying "God Bless America"!
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What percentage of the world's 6.5 Billion Population is Atheist?
By recent Pew Religious surveys, less than 3%. Another 10% is 'Areligious.' (Meaning they do not profess to not believe in God, but do not subscribe to a religion or church.) Atheism seems more widespread to us because of the high prevalence in the Northwest, but this does not resonate with the multitudes of world population.
Just by way of illustration, 3% is approximately the same prevalence homosexuality...small minority but reaching for a critical voice.
But like homosexuals, atheists must learn to live as a tiny minority in a big world. And vice-versa.
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Jacob, I learned long ago that one person who is right is a majority of one.
Like in the movie "Mr Smith goes to Washington", change always starts with one or a few people who see that the majority is wrong and then bravely stand up and say what they see as wrong.
I may eventually be proved wrong, but the history and the facts on the ground are on my side, so I very much doubt that I will be proved wrong.
I've been on your side and it was like a bolt of lightning at night when I suddenly saw and realized that I was, and now you, are wrong and what was actually right. It tore me apart.
The Jesus character was a great teacher, which leads to the question, "Why did the authorities turn him into a "God"?" Why did they God-ize him?
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I would like to think that I am a good person, but the urge to do so does not come from any sort of spiritual guidance. It's just the right thing to do. I have temptations just like everybody else; I give into the little ones but not the big ones because my conscience guides me.
Many, if not all religions, inspire people to "be good." But let's face it, almost all religious texts and ideals were not written by a god - they were written by men. They were written to explain the unexplainable, and to provide some sort of moral background to guide people toward the positive ideals that existed in their day. And since they were written by men, in an era when men essentially owned women (and sometimes slaves as well), they had no interest in letting go of that power. If there is a god (or gods), I find it doubtful that we could assign those gods a race or gender.
I agree with all those things that essentially say we should "do good." However, I simply can't believe that there exists a god somewhere. And if there is a god, it most certainly did not create us in its image. We need religion, or something like it, to keep us from being what we really are: animals who act based on very basic carnal needs and emotion, not rationality. We need some sort of structure to keep us from destroying ourselves, and in my humble opinion, religion is only maintaining a fragile balance between peace and complete breakdown of our society. Not from gays or atheists or female preachers any other target du jour, but from people who practice different religions (that includes both Christians and Muslims, among others). "I'm right, you must die!" No, I'm right, you must die!"
I think Loni said it pretty well, but could not resist throwing in my own two cents. Of course, Bill and Ted said it pretty well too: "Be excellent to one another."
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I figured out that teaching children from an early age that there is some supernatural being outside themself that is in control of their life, undermines and destroys the proper development inside themselves of a strong and powerful inner self regulator, an inner voice that reminds them what is good and moral and gives them the normal human feelings that accompanies that inner voice.
A Jesuit priest said words like "Give me a child before the age of seven and I'll give you a Catholic". What indoctrinating god into the child does is put the control of him outside of himself and under the control of powerful people who want to manipulate him. And that is why religion has always been a branch of government.
The second hour of TOTN yesterday was about clergy abuse of women and children; well, abuse of power is what religion is about and it always has been. Abraham created god to give himself power over his tribe and make himself king, and that has always been the case.
A child who rebels, rebels against something that does not feel right, and that is why children of religion rebel. A child who is not indoctrinated into religion but is raised with a proper "inner" regulator does not rebel against himself.
I have the experience of both sides of that and I have taught someone about it and witnessed the powerful results.
So I am anti-Religion, I am against teaching that some supernatural being exists.
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In response to both Tom and EvMack- First of all, our essential natures as human beings tell us to be both good and bad. The notion of free will, of choice, is precisely what gives us the need for God and for guidance.We need structure to keep us in line. In our human / not divine natures, we often fail at that. What religion does is provide a framework within which we can strive to be better. Not that we are inherently BAD, but by being HUMAN we have the potential for great GOOD or EVIL. When religion turns violent or harsh, it is almost always at the hand of man, not God. God created us in His image but he gave us free will. The way he sought to help us was by sending himself in man-form - Jesus Christ, who came to earth to teach us about love, forgiveness, humility and show us the "way to be". He died as was foretold, and left us with FORGIVENESS & FAITH- and the choice of believing or not. We can accept or reject the gift of salvation. Of course, we are SO smart and find this "leap of faith" so irrational, so unbelievable, so full of fault, that it is impossible to accept the gift. As a society we now possess more and are less in need of the divine.
I don't understand when people say they stray from "organized religion" because of its faults and rules. That's like saying I don't believe in "higher education" because of its faulty philosophies or professors. We can choose how to think, even as we involve ourselves in a formal structural learning institution or organized religion. I don't agree with everything my pastor says, much like I didn't always agree with my profs in college. But I was there to learn, and to have that structure within which to open my mind to teachings. The "faith of a child" which is often said we should strive for, doesn't mean "controlled, indoctrinated" faith...it means, to believe in miracles, in the mystery of faith as a child is capable of doing freely and which we forget how to do as we clutter our lives with the intellectual need for proof and hard facts.
I think people fear religion because it means commitment. my inner voice doesn't always tell me to do the right thing. I need more than reliance on my own thinking to get the strength to endure and explain life's tribulations.
It's always easier to doubt and fear and question than it is to say "I believe". Faith is not an easy path. But there's always grace and mercy.
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@ kjustg — Fri Oct. 8th 6:02p.m.
"In response to both Tom and EvMack- First of all, our essential natures as human beings tell us to be both good and bad. The notion of free will, of choice, is precisely what gives us the need for God and for guidance.We need structure to keep us in line. In our human / not divine natures, we often fail at that. What religion does is provide a framework within which we can strive to be better...."
You drank the Kool-Aid. Hurry, quick, puke it back up before it damages you any more!
Religion, a belief in a supernatural being, is the problem and not the cure.
This is your belief because it has been taught you over and over by some person(s) in a position of authority and power but it does not serve you, it serves the people with power over you. It destroys your inner compass and makes you dependent on some supernatural compass outside yourself as translated by the person in power. It seems benign in the good times but there always comes a time when the person(s) in power tell you something is right when it is actually wrong and only benefits them. Humans need their own strong "inner" compass in order to resist persons in power who tell them to do wrong.
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God is the word that discribes your own personal take on an omnicient being. Even in the case of an athiest, the individual is God.
Distain toward Christianity, and the coddling of Islam has recently become quite apparent. It seems quite odd to see and hear a paradoxical distain for whatever it is that helps motivate individuals to strive for purpose and direction. Peace and prosperity is all anyone needs. (Prosperity isn't always financial)
Sad is the institution that would pass judgment on anyone's personal belief. Or make special exception for one and not another.
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@spunky: here is when it is necessary to pass judgement on personal religious beliefs:
-when other people's religious beliefs direct them to kill others that don't agree with them (common in Islam and present in Christianity)
-when other people's religious beliefs lead them to try to establish theocracies - taking over governments - much as the Christian Dominionists and Islamic fundamentalists try to do now
- when believers end-time beliefs takes away the fear of war in the Middle East (such as Jesus' Second Coming)
- when religion oppresses women, non-conventional gender orientations, or any minority
Many times religious belief is not benign, and like a cancer can destroy an enlightened, benevolent culture. I am not talking of moderate and tolerant religion, but of the destructive, close-minded versions.
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Scientists studying chimpanzees have found that they help each other out, so serving our fellow beings predates religion by millenia.
Serving our fellow human beings is now called Secular Humanism, but it certainly predates religion; and so we can conclude that morality does not come from god but from the evolution of primates to us.
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Religions are groupings that have utilities for people beyond the social community function they serve. Some of it is political, and some of it is psychological. We can decry the political, and say the psychological makes no sense, but it is here to stay. We can monitor and manage political abuses. And we can direct the tribal competitive urges toward good works. But the need to have answers to the unanswerable will not be denied. This requires some pragmatic, psychological, slight of hand. We call it 'belief', even if it has nothing to do with god.
Sure there are scoundrels using religion for cover or power. Likewise there is a whole spectrum of mixed motives in peoples involvement in religious communities. But you are not going to eliminate people 'believing' some combination of things that they see as in their physical, social, and psychological self-interest. And yes, it can look a lot like peoples' political beliefs, with the caveat that the self-interest involved extends into the here-after.
We can, I think, point out to good effect, that personal beliefs are almost always self serving. But, I think we all make a dangerous mistake if we generalize any group of people. If we do it in the positive direction we miss the scoundrels and help give them cover. If we generalize in the negative direction we can limit the potential of the people of good will. I find it better to focus on individuals in a group and be skeptical, vigilant, and hopeful.
It sounds like your early church experience was even worse than mine. I am still shy of groups of all kinds, as I have experienced similar destructive group dynamics in political and environmental groups as well. Still, groups are how most things seem to get done in this world. I now try and influence them from the outside. -
Am answering Tom D Ford here on his response to me about "drinking the kool-aid" Just because a person chooses to follow a certain religion doesn't necessarily mean they are powerless. Religious leaders don't have some mesmerizing and overwhelming power over us unless we let them. Only if we choose to let them! You failed to really read what I wrote. Free will, the ability to agree or disagree doesn't mean you still can't affiliate yourself with a religion or a belief system. We aren't all Jim Jones followers...
And though introduced to religion at an early age, as many, I strayed and searched and questioned and read a lot and then returned to my faith. At the end of my quest Christianity made the most sense to me. So please, Tom, we're not all a bunch of googley-eyed lost souls being brainwashed...we just choose to follow beliefs that allow us to understand our inner compass better...totally respectful of those who don't choose to make God the center of their lives. That's all.
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Scientists are also proving the validity of prayer on the person being prayed for, when that person has no knowledge of the prayers. This has been reported repeatedly on NPR.
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@Desolation, you need to cite sources to verify your claims. I have seen many studies to show the opposite of what you claim, and here is just one of many:
http://www.skepdic.com/essays/healingprayer1.html
It is a very, very well-researched paper, with in-depth examination of the methods used in the various surveys and their use of statistical data.
Just one small quote: "Recently, Herbert Benson published the results of his randomized, double-blind study of the effects of healing prayer on cardiac patients (see below). He failed to find any significant difference in the IP group."
As an ex-christian (ex-missionary, etc) of 46 years, this is my main complaint with religious claims: they are non-verifiable.
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LOL!
For: Morrlan, Portwes
I have long played your game and no, I have no need to further cite my source… My statement was quite deliberate and the source I referenced is adequate for my actual statement.
Have a great evening! -
So the "game" you are speaking of is what, exactly? Seems to me that making stuff up that suits what you believe is the game you want to play. Suit yourself.
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Double post.
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@ Desolation: your statement is the kind of thing that leads 45% of the US population to believe that we really did find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The science on prayer has repeatedly demonstrated that it DOES NOT heal the sick. E.g.: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1072638.ece "Praying for the health of strangers who have undergone heart surgery has no effect, according to the largest scientific study ever commissioned to calculate the healing power of prayer. In fact, patients who know they are being prayed for suffer a noticeably higher rate of complications, according to the study, which monitored the recovery of 1,800 patients after heart bypass surgery in the US."
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Thank you so much for today's show. I have been struggling for years with my Catholicism after moving to Bend 9 years ago. We have one Catholic church in town, overseen by one Bishop. After, 12 years of Catholic school for me, 8 for my Husband and 8 for each of our children, we have left this church. I desperatley want to be part of a Church I feel offers me some Spirituality that I can respect. I was very impressed by both the Rabbi and Mary Lou Stewart. How would I find anymore inofrmation on her, One Spirit One CAll organization? And thank you for offering me some hope after all this time.
Maryanne
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Installing religion, a belief in a supernatural being, in a child is the psychological equivalent of chopping a babies legs off at the knees and then giving her a wheelchair to make yourself feel good and to keep control of her.
Religion makes mental cripples of people in order to get control of them and make them easy to manipulate.
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Ok, now you're losing my intellectual respect. Such a weak argument.
What experience did you have? Are you a lost boy Mormon?
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kjustg — Sat Oct. 9th 1:57p.m.
I'm sorry, it's like trying to describe an elephant to a blind person; you're the blind person and I don't yet have the right words to explain the whole of it to you. And worse yet, you won't have the understanding of it from my attempts at explanation even if I was very good with words, you pretty much have to experience it yourself.
Imagine it's a moonless night, you're wandering around lost, and suddenly there is a bolt of lightning that shows you the whole landscape. And that is just the start of searching out information about what you have seen and experienced in that bolt of lightning.
The potential of human beings is damaged by religion at a relatively low level of peak performance and it is a shame and waste of humanity. The potential overall average is pretty amazing.
And no. I'm not a lost boy mormon, I had a great childhood and great parents, I doubt that any parents did it more correctly than mine, and a very good religious education, including a baptism dunking. It's just that I had real world experience that launched me beyond all of that.
I wish that I could download (or upload) what I have learned, to you. Let you sort it out for yourself. It is frustrating.
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@kjustg - you said: "I think people fear religion because it means commitment. my inner voice doesn't always tell me to do the right thing. I need more than reliance on my own thinking to get the strength to endure and explain life's tribulations"
Two major errors in that statement:
- not a single agnostic or atheist I know is afraid of commitment: their main objection to religion and it's claims is a lack of verifiability. Why believe in Santa Claus if you are sure he doesn't exist? I was committed as a fundamentalist christian and missionary for 46 years, so I certainly wasn't afraid of commitment: in the end it made no rational sense!
- you assume that people who don't believe in god can't be as moral as religious people. That is debunked by surveys of all kinds: the divorce rate among religious people is higher than non-believers, the prison population is made up of a much higher proportion of believers in god than the non-prison population. How people treat each other primarily comes from what "feels" right, and not from a holy book. If it weren't true, then where's the evidence that non-theists steal and kill and rape and lie at a greater rate than theists? There is none. Please be objective and stop making assumptions about people who choose not to believe in a deity.
(FYI, I was the audience member - Wesley - who spoke during the live taping of the show, at 31:40, for a few minutes.)
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Please don't equate Santa Claus to God- it is surefire loser in a religious debate. (kind of like the converting of Hitler on his deathbed.... ugh) I also did not say that non-theists aren't moral people. I have many non-believer friends who are some of the best people I know. They just follow their own inner compass and I am saying that the frailty of mankind (for ME) needs more than simply to rely on the "self". Surveys are not reliable usually, and not always indicative of truth. Firstly, most inmates claim a religious affiliation when asked because they want to align themselves with something orderly or socially acceptable. Divorce is probably greater among religious people because many non-believers don't even get married. Also, if you were a part of a very strict fundamentalist church, no wonder you have veered away. Those kinds of strident beliefs and adherence to the "fire and brimstone" notions of Christianity are far from what Jesus preached. Rational thinking, evidence is great in a science lab, but not in a religious discussion. Again, if you aren't willing to believe in the mystery and intangibility of faith, you are right to have eschewed your beliefs. And that's fine. But you cannot argue that to believe in a God doesn't take a commitment to a faith. You did that. Surely during your 46 years of missionary work you realized that God cannot be discovered through "rationalization" but in those moments of wonder and miracle. When you left those beliefs behind you became committed to not believing.
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First, it wasn't a strict fundamentalist church, like Westboro Baptist, just a normal, middle-of-the-road one.
Second, I didn't use Santa in a debate to argue the non-existence of god, simply that non-theists will not commit to something for which there is no verification. Your exact words were that "people fear religion because it means commitment". I don't know a single non-theist who fears commitment, and I was just saying that you can't and shouldn't make a blanket statement like that. Is that unreasonable?
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Oh, and Hitler was baptised as a child into the Catholic church - no deathbed conversion there!
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My spiritual struggle occurs when I ask, "Why do humans keep doing the same stupid things over and over and expecting a different result?" All the problems humans have now are problems they've wrestled with in the past and will wrestle in the future. I live better when I pay attention to my code and ask fewer questions that have no meaningful answers.
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I think it's very important to be clear about something we are hearing a lot from the more liberal Christian community (and some other liberal versions of religions that have more fundamentalist literalist versions- in particular, the monotheistic ones). Karen Armstrong, for example, represents this position and it is catching on like wildfire, as we heard from some of the speakers in this episode. The idea is not just that truth and facts are not the same thing (and by some usage of the word "truth," that is true), but that because something is *psychologically true* (or beneficial) it gets special permission to be reified ontologically. Theists are not content to keep religion in the realm of myth and literature, even though Shakespeare, Homer, Joyce, etc, are rich testaments to the history of humanity and tell us so much- maybe what is most important, about ourselves. There is this implicit assertion that we must take it to another level and actually reify these beliefs or the effects are diluted. That's probably true psychologically actually, but it doesn't justify it ontologically. For that assessment we go by facts and evidence. Besides, there has to be at least some facts involved or there would be no actual religion to speak of that isn't purely psychological (maybe that's the point).
This is one place where we have to resist the human urge to constantly up the ante. We have to be very clear about what this action is exactly, if each person's subjective truth is to be considered as true as objective reality. The word that we have for this action is called delusion. We all do it to some extent. It may be beneficial and/or comforting on different levels personally and socially, but it is still delusion. We may even admittedly decide it's worth it to say it's ontologically true because it is psychologically true, knowing full well that it isn't ontologically true, because the benefits outweigh the truth. Even Nietzsche eventually saw some necessary benefit in employing the world of appearances (and evolutionary psychology will explore that more in the future). Still... I think that the greatest personal challenge is realizing that we can have all of that psychological truth, all of the community and compassion, all of that natural awe- plus the facts, without reifying religion, because it is superfluous.
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It is fortunate that we are able to compensate for troubling uncertainties in this life. We do it with belief, and belief reinforcement - even Athiests do it. With out the grounding of reinforced beliefs, most people would be useless to themselves and to others.
Still - equally important - what people convince themselves of - out of the complexities and unknowables - can be a big problem! One person's functional certitude is often in open conflict with another person's functional certitude.
Damn!!! How to have enough humility about the whole thing, and still have enough certitude to function well? The frothing at the mouth fundamentalist/partisan will always have an energy advantage over the wishy washy agnostic/independant.
My solution has been to be fiercely independant in my certitude that somebody has to remain above the predictable mayhem of blind, competing beliefs.