Resolutions

Resolved: To not be insecure about anything, and yet maintain humility.
Resolved: To learn Hindi and become ambidextrous.
Resolved: To speak clearly, in terms of both enunciation and thought.
Resolved: To think more and yet less before I talk.
Resolved: To be curious and ask questions.
Resolved: To not speak of myself for more than 5 sentences in a row.
Resolved: To find passion.
Resolved: To make art--literary, musical, and visual.
Resolved: To not make people cry.
Resolved: To make a bubble as big as a watermelon as big as my head.

On the Purpose of Religion: Causality

By causality I mean explanations for the apparently unexplainable, e.g. the creation of the universe or complex natural phenomena. This is most obvious in ancient religions like those of Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome, but they continue today. Indeed, this facet of religion causes the most controversy when science and doctrine conflict.

While the ancient Greeks were a quickly developing civilization, they were mystified by innumerable natural phenomena like earthquakes, waves, lightning, and seasons. The human need for explanation was met by creation of gods and myths. Earthquakes were a result of the gods' anger. Large waves were created by Poseidon, while lightning bolts were thrown by Zeus from the clouds. The changing seasons were a result of Demeter's grief over the loss of her daughter to Hades.

One of the most universal features of religious explanation is creation. How was the Earth created? How was life created? How were we created? These are the deep questions that religion attempts to answer. While other religious explanations have been rejected as we have learned the physical mechanisms of natural phenomena, creation myths have an abnormal sticking capacity, perhaps because they are more personal or fundamental.

For example, while the idea of the Earth moving around the sun was heretical in Galileo's era, it has now been accepted as fact. Yet many people believe that the Earth is some thousands rather than billions of years old, when the evidence is equally clear. Likewise, the "war" between creationism and evolution has been raging for centuries, while evidence for natural selection is piling at an ever-increasing rate with advances in genetics, molecular biology, and organic chemistry, among other fields.

I began this list with comfort, which I said was the trait I admire most about religion. I end it here with this abnormal (and annoying) attachment to belief that is characteristic of not just religion but belief itself. Religious phenomena like terrorism, crusades, and outright rejection of evidence are a result of belief's irrefutable nature. There is simply no answer to "because I believe it."

On the Purpose of Religion: Order

As far as I can tell, order includes unity and structure. (I used to have power as a fifth purpose, but these two seem to cover that fairly well.)  The first is self-evident, as religions without unity die out, while successful religions are often examples of the strongest communities around. 

Structure is automatically generated then, because groups must have leaders (with a few exceptions). The larger a religious community grows, the more levels of authority are needed to control it, rendering a sort of government invested with divine authority and with the charge of enforcing the religion's laws and/or customs. 

Unfortunately, religion can also validate structures such as the caste system with divine justification, separating humanity on an arbitrary and often detrimental basis. Of course, over the course of history, people have come up with plenty of ways to justify harmful social structures such as slavery without the help of religion, so the fault lies less on religion and more on humanity itself. :P

On the Purpose of Religion: Morality

Morality is typically provided via a combination of great incentives and equally severe punishments. These are often some of the core tenets of the religion and dictate people's actions every day.

Karma is the supernaturally enforced version of "what goes around comes around." As an extension, some Eastern religions' versions of reincarnation include a sort of judgment. Do good, and be reborn as a human; do evil, and be reborn as a slug. At the end of the scale is the divine judgment of the afterlife found in religions such as Christianity, where the stark contrast between heaven and hell is all the motivation required to be a moral citizen. 

I would think that people can be moral without such positive/negative reinforcement, and I gain hope from the fact that atheists are not simply evil. Mechanisms like the philosophy of ethics and psychology of social norms indicate that there are other avenues to give a society morality.

On the Purpose of Religion: Comfort

There is nothing quite like the comfort that religion gives to people. The troubles of the past, present, and future are taken away by the magical hope of the afterlife or reincarnation. The terrifying unknowns of darkness, death, and the currently unexplainable are answered. The loneliness and sorrows of life are ameliorated by the unconditional(?) love of a powerful supernatural being and the tremendous support of a unified religious community. I don't know of any other mechanism to provide such comprehensive and deep hope and comfort, and it is perhaps the trait I admire most.

On the Purpose of Religion: Introduction

First, to preface: I have not yet taken a course or even read a full book on religion, though I ought to have by now. I have not yet traveled the world on my own to truly learn about its myriad cultures, though again I ought to do so.

These thoughts, then, come from a mind that is functionally illiterate in religion but nevertheless takes the liberty of having thoughts about it. Therefore, any corrections, additions, or (dare I hope) agreement would be very, very much appreciated. I know I know nothing, but I would like to.

Although the purposes of religion are perhaps uncountable, I believe the original functions of many are to give some combination of comfort and morality, order and causality. These are obviously interdependent and likely incomplete, but they will do as a starting point for now.