Relgion is possibly too vast a topic to really do justice to in any non-spoken means of communication. When more than one person is involved, a healthy discussion ensues and biased views like this can be distilled. What you will have here, will be just my own encounters and opinions garnered from bitter, but also, on frequent occasion, jubilant and ecstatic experience.
What benefits can Religion bring?
A quick google of 'Joy of Faith' lands you with 2,760,000 hits on people claiming 'unspeakable' joy at having a faith in a higher power - albeit the vast majority of those are likely Christians as 'faith' is their word. Many have suggested that such a faith can be a de-stresser and life-extender for those happy enough to be content. These are tangible benefits measurable on an individual basis and by talking to those who claim this joy. I can understand why. It is similar to the child being comforted by a parent's warm, protecting hand grasping theirs and leading them onwards. The child does not need to worry about the journey or the unknown destination as long as the hand is held.
The idea itself of a heaven or after-life is also extremely attractive and can motivate people through their life to see out otherwise impossible hurdles or negatives so horrendous that life itself is unbearable. Belief that it is all going to be worth it, is a powerful force. We are only human after all and a life being pampered for eternity sounds appealing!
There is also the idea, particularly in Christian religion, that God is listening - that we, you and I of the little people, can speak to the divine, the creator, the supreme being. You just have to look at the vast array of blogs - including this one - podcasts, message boards, website, journals, novels etc to see the human need to feel that their opinions and views are worthy and should be listened to. Believing you can talk to God must be the ultimate in feel nurtured and listened to.
But...
Are these benefits not even just a tiny bit self-indulgent and naive? The life that we lead on this planet is ours. Yes, there are a multitude of ways that your stress counter can zig-zag its way to oblivion. Yes, more and more people are going off sick with 'stress'. Yes, our motorways are regularly congested with commuter traffic. Yet, this is a choice. If you don't like it - why do it? Why choose that lifestyle? It seems unnatural to cite religion as a 'calming' technique and hoik it up on a similar 'modern' pedestal such as yoga. Surely, the egg comes before the chicken - you must have a craving for religion in and of itself, otherwise it is a shallow addition and not a fruitless exercise.
Secondly, a belief in heaven is also smacking of naivety. It is the old horse in Animal Farm who keeps slogging away at his job that will kill him because it will lead him to a better life. Heaven as it is handed down via the media and children's films is the ultimate in warm cosy swaddling. True, I would enjoy it - but for how long? Heaven is also open to vast interpretation and depending on any one religion, can vary greatly. In the Christian religion - the non-televised, non-children-friendly version, you are part of a mass choir of praise and delight in praising the deity who made you (which by the way was the sole purpose of making you in the first place). Perhaps the most staggerringly dull thing about this is the fact that you seem to be divorced from all previous concepts of the self that you were. This self was inherently 'flawed' and therefore unfit for heaven - so God gives you, very generously, a new body and puts you up there so that you can spend every conscious moment of eternity celebrating his goodness to you. This newbody, logic at least in place here, is sexless. If you had been married several times with your wives dying and then you remarrying, then you wouldn't want some awkward menage-et-trois dishonouring god, would you? Yet, this sexless, individual-less, souless void of praising holds very little attraction when examined. Valhalla sounds more like my kinda place - drinking, women, song, your forefathers and your sword.
What are the negatives?
Well...let's explore in a further post.
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