Why We Need Religion To Function

Sam Harris’s clip on Youtube entitled, Why We Should Ditch Religion and the New York Times article, Why We Believe, both touch on several different views that I myself share. I believe it is almost impossible to completely disregard religion as a whole, from the dawn of man; human beings have been instinctively born to ask questions regarding the roots of existence, which more or less brought about the dawn of religion. In today’s world, Islamic and Christian traditions have been known to contradict each other and in a sense these traditions make and shape our functioning planet, as we know it. If it were not for religion as a whole the human race would have a slimmer chance of existing to this day.

            I am not one to say whether or not some sort of super natural power watches and protects over us, however without the idea of religion our chances of being here today, where we are now is slim to none. In Sam Harris’s video clip, he touches on the point of whether or not religion is the problem with our entire society as a whole. In an ideal world, if everyone existed with similar views, there would be less violence in this world (theoretically of course). However, without religion, humans would not have anything to believe in, thus people would start to lose hope in just about anything and everything, religion in a sense is what binds our race together, it helps us all function as one, although we all have our differences, and that is something that is inevitable.

            The two sources did not so much contradict each other, however, they did bring up the point of how there is a fair amount of skepticism in religion as a whole, and the variances between religions will always have their differences in theories and that is something that is inevitable. I personally think that we should all believe in some sort of super natural power, but keep our opinions regarding our beliefs personal and to not preach to other.