Is religion rational?

[Xanikk999]

So the tradition that Christ died for my sins as well as his teachings are out dated. Please, cry me a river.

Well i actually meant other traditions. I really didnt specify that one did I?

 

[mdwh]

Religion is exactly as irrational as any other system of beliefs or system of non-belief. This is to include Atheism too. The only "rational" belief is Agnosticism. You have to choose whether you believe of not. Agnosticism is "I don't know", while atheism and religion are "I do believe in this one of the two".

Nope, atheism is "I don't believe in God", only some athiests ("strong atheists") make that claim. Knowledge is a separate issue to belief. (Also, I'm not clear whether you mean the "I don't know if God exists" or "I don't know what I believe" definition of agnosticism?)

 

[mdwh]

I'd say believing things without any evidence is irrational. Also, believing things based on flawed "proofs" (argument from design and so on) is, by definition, irrational.

But that doesn't apply to all of religion or all religious people.

 

[Gogf]

In its simplest form, religion is rational. But arguments for theistic belief instead of scientific skepticism are generally ridiculous.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

I have seen "irrational" tossed around such as "You're irrational" or use it as a brand of insult of the individual's intelligences.


Sorry, but I'm not insecure of my beliefs. I care less if people say that my beliefs are irrational or not. However I care when the term irrational to describe a person.

Well if you know you're not, and you know that the person who's using that word wrong is an idiot, why do you care?

 

[plarq]

Most religions are rational per se. However, some of them, such as mystic pagan religions, idol cults and modern cults, are irrational because of lacking a comprehensive religious text.

However, most of time, religion in practice is often irrational. Because religions can't compete its rationality with other knowledges, such as natural science (place doubt on religious claims), psychology (which often reveals plots of religions), history, social and political science (which often reveals the function of religions). Due to those vulnerability, religions in modern world acts as a soothe of mental wounds, rather than a rational explanation, observation and solution of things.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

What is rational? A strict following of the truth? Or one's own interest? If following a religion benefits one, but one receives these benefits only from truly believing (ie on cannot fool oneself), then believing is rational.

 

[plarq]

What is rational? A strict following of the truth? Or one's own interest? If following a religion benefits one, but one receives these benefits only from truly believing (ie on cannot fool oneself), then believing is rational.

Coherent without self-contradicting or deliberately omitting contents.

That's why most religion texts are rational. Admittedly some parts of a religion text may contradict one another, but by taking a figurative interpretation, these contradiction could be avoided. Religion texts are also quite coherent, and try to
offer an overall explanation of the universe.

Many pagan religions, idol/ancestor/totem cult and modern cult lack these.

 

[SlowwHand]

Other.
It's totally rational if we know the whole Plan, which we don't.