Fashionable liberals decry religion as do the communists but even at the peak of Soviet power the church survived.
And the Chinese are still worried about it.
Ataturk when he created the new Turkey- after the end of the Ottoman Empire - broke the power of the Islamic Church a move which he believed was essential in order to move on.
There is little doubt religion has been enormously important in shaping the World which is largely broken up by religious groupings.
But if history tells us one thing it is religions do not mix - a minority grouping maybe tolerated but they need to stay out of politics.
But religion today is seen as awfully out of date with pork bans, contraception bans and the veil but those rules made great sense when you look back in time - bad pork was dangerous, life expectancy and infant mortality where high and the veil discouraged lasciviousness in small communities - and I often think offices might be a better place if it was used today! What religion has failed to do is move on and its power has been abused time and time again - once people believe in something as strong as a God somebody who is apparently close to the deity - like a priest- can manipulate his congregation and then it is only a small step to worldly rather than heavenly affairs so - from Medieval Popes to modern day Ayatollahs - God has been used to wield powers I suspect he did not give, nor intend.
But all this begs the question of do we need religion, or maybe is there a God at all? I read a good article the other day that basically said that believing in God and the afterlife was a win win position because as one's life is ending it would be a very miserable ending if you believed that is it.
But believe in God and heaven means departing the mortal part of this world is not all bad: in fact if life here is particularly hard it may look like a much better option.
And in the end if there is no after life - well you will not know but at least you died happier.
And whilst I accept religion has been divisive it has also been important, if not vital, in the structuring of moral codes and social standards.
Most countries still have a faith at the core of their system: in the UK and Commonwealth the monarch is not only the head of state but the 'defender of the faith,' and that is not uncommon among other monarchs.
Presidents and other heads of state and administrators are usually sworn in with reference to God.
The simple answer is that mortals come and go but God stays on forever and in the end it is not a bad idea to hold your head of state responsible to somebody and God is a person he or she cannot get at! But beyond that is there a real purpose and indeed need for religion in modern society? It was that thought that I pondered on when writing the Aquitaine Trilogy which was a about the rise of a new society starting with the survivors of a holocaust (Nuclear because it was the most effective and easy) who not only had to manage themselves but growing groups of other survivors coming to them for help, so a community was quickly built.
It needed leadership and that was established; then in the longer term it needed a way of governing a community that was emerging into a new state.
That allowed me to look back at our society and governance today and decide how I would change it.
But writing a story always becomes a living thing in the mind of the writer and early on I realised the initial survivors needed unifying and needed to be given hope - so a semi religious ceremony was held on the first Sunday.
It was lead by an actor, not a priest, and it drew on the actors and others knowledge of prayers and instead of hymns they sung popular songs.
They were chosen to be emotive they began with 'Let it be, then 'Imagine' and finally 'Wonderful World.
" The whole service started with Hamlet's great soliloquy.
Little to do with God but still very emotional and what the survivors needed.
From there the actor took on priest like duties mainly burying the dead and helping the dying and there were plenty of both.
Most people would agree in those circumstances a good priest provides a worthwhile function.
From then on he and others developed a new religion -The peoples of the Earth - and the concept was (if indeed religion can have a concept and branding) to take in all other religions and draw from them creating a new unified religion or faith.
So the Peoples of the Earth worshiped God's gift - the planet earth.
They took the position that God's people had rejected the words of his prophets, ignored God's son and spurned God's messenger but now they had a final chance and they had to look after God's gift- our wonderful planet.
Not only is a religion popular for those people who believe in God, and in times of desperation the number rises exponentially, but it was desirable as it provided moral fabric to society and a rock on which to anchor ethics and train young people - it also was by design environmentally friendly and would hopefully stop the new civilisation from raping and pillaging the Earth again.
So my unequivocal answer to does modern society need religion and or faith is yes - we need something bigger to hold us to task than a set of man made laws which we can manipulate and be changed at a whim.
And the Chinese are still worried about it.
Ataturk when he created the new Turkey- after the end of the Ottoman Empire - broke the power of the Islamic Church a move which he believed was essential in order to move on.
There is little doubt religion has been enormously important in shaping the World which is largely broken up by religious groupings.
But if history tells us one thing it is religions do not mix - a minority grouping maybe tolerated but they need to stay out of politics.
But religion today is seen as awfully out of date with pork bans, contraception bans and the veil but those rules made great sense when you look back in time - bad pork was dangerous, life expectancy and infant mortality where high and the veil discouraged lasciviousness in small communities - and I often think offices might be a better place if it was used today! What religion has failed to do is move on and its power has been abused time and time again - once people believe in something as strong as a God somebody who is apparently close to the deity - like a priest- can manipulate his congregation and then it is only a small step to worldly rather than heavenly affairs so - from Medieval Popes to modern day Ayatollahs - God has been used to wield powers I suspect he did not give, nor intend.
But all this begs the question of do we need religion, or maybe is there a God at all? I read a good article the other day that basically said that believing in God and the afterlife was a win win position because as one's life is ending it would be a very miserable ending if you believed that is it.
But believe in God and heaven means departing the mortal part of this world is not all bad: in fact if life here is particularly hard it may look like a much better option.
And in the end if there is no after life - well you will not know but at least you died happier.
And whilst I accept religion has been divisive it has also been important, if not vital, in the structuring of moral codes and social standards.
Most countries still have a faith at the core of their system: in the UK and Commonwealth the monarch is not only the head of state but the 'defender of the faith,' and that is not uncommon among other monarchs.
Presidents and other heads of state and administrators are usually sworn in with reference to God.
The simple answer is that mortals come and go but God stays on forever and in the end it is not a bad idea to hold your head of state responsible to somebody and God is a person he or she cannot get at! But beyond that is there a real purpose and indeed need for religion in modern society? It was that thought that I pondered on when writing the Aquitaine Trilogy which was a about the rise of a new society starting with the survivors of a holocaust (Nuclear because it was the most effective and easy) who not only had to manage themselves but growing groups of other survivors coming to them for help, so a community was quickly built.
It needed leadership and that was established; then in the longer term it needed a way of governing a community that was emerging into a new state.
That allowed me to look back at our society and governance today and decide how I would change it.
But writing a story always becomes a living thing in the mind of the writer and early on I realised the initial survivors needed unifying and needed to be given hope - so a semi religious ceremony was held on the first Sunday.
It was lead by an actor, not a priest, and it drew on the actors and others knowledge of prayers and instead of hymns they sung popular songs.
They were chosen to be emotive they began with 'Let it be, then 'Imagine' and finally 'Wonderful World.
" The whole service started with Hamlet's great soliloquy.
Little to do with God but still very emotional and what the survivors needed.
From there the actor took on priest like duties mainly burying the dead and helping the dying and there were plenty of both.
Most people would agree in those circumstances a good priest provides a worthwhile function.
From then on he and others developed a new religion -The peoples of the Earth - and the concept was (if indeed religion can have a concept and branding) to take in all other religions and draw from them creating a new unified religion or faith.
So the Peoples of the Earth worshiped God's gift - the planet earth.
They took the position that God's people had rejected the words of his prophets, ignored God's son and spurned God's messenger but now they had a final chance and they had to look after God's gift- our wonderful planet.
Not only is a religion popular for those people who believe in God, and in times of desperation the number rises exponentially, but it was desirable as it provided moral fabric to society and a rock on which to anchor ethics and train young people - it also was by design environmentally friendly and would hopefully stop the new civilisation from raping and pillaging the Earth again.
So my unequivocal answer to does modern society need religion and or faith is yes - we need something bigger to hold us to task than a set of man made laws which we can manipulate and be changed at a whim.
Source...