both. organized religion is like anything else in this world. just depends on who's using it for what purpose. things and institutions generally aren't good or bad, it's the people within them that are flawed. i tend to blame a lot of religious people for giving god a bad name...misrepresenting. but i also blame a lot of atheists for using that as an easy scapegoat. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Neither. Human nature is immutable. Those who do good will do good, those who hate will hate, and those who hide and live their lives will do that. Organized religions are human institutions, and therefore will never be more or less perfect than human nature, and even if they were, they could not sway humanity. God may be another issue entirely.
To the extent that organization reduces spontaneity, enforces conformity, ritualizes acts that were once free expressions, it can be considered a degeneration of the original religious feeling.
However these are precisely the reasons why it is so useful; it is a tool that can give society structure, and stability, as well as making it easier to control and govern.
I think it depends on the individual: For instance: criminals could benefit from having the concept of a God who is everywhere sees everything they do. That could somehow help control their behavior. As religions are generally a source of moral or ethical rules, the followers need to honor. For some people who are not criminals, having a religion can still be useful to find answers and comfort when facing the problems in life. Yet, they must give up their rationality to be able to accept the reilgious concepts, which can not be proven. For some other people who are not criminals, and are more rational. Religions could be a source of restriction and conflict. This is when religious people tend to be self rightgeous or fanatics trying to impose their belifs on others. I believe ideally nobody should need a specific religion.
For an organised religion to grow and become large it must be acceptable to the powers that be on earth. The powers that be on earth are lead by satan. There may be small organizations that do not compromise their message to conform to the needs of the powers that be. But they will always be on the fringe and under oppression. The helpful Organization that is big and true is the one lead by the Holy Spirit. It is a body of believers lead by God down through the millennia slowly growing in number through time. All Praise The Ancient Of Days
From what I've seen, mostly harmful. Organized religion is like a dangerous weapon that only the wisest manage to use properly.
10 Reasons You Should Never Have a Religion While consciously pursuing your spiritual development is commendable, joining an established religion such as Christianity, Islam, or Hinduism is one of the worst ways to go about it. In this article I’ll share 10 reasons why you must eventually abandon the baggage of organized religion if you wish to pursue conscious living in earnest. Since Christianity is currently the world’s most popular religion, I’ll slant this article towards Christianity’s ubiquitous failings. However, you’ll find that most of these points apply equally well to other major religions (yes, even Buddhism).
Organised religion is just when religious people form groups. There's nothing there that is inherently harmful. Historically, organised religions have done both good and bad. However, I think their good and neutral acts outweigh the bad.
This is an excerpt from the article “are most wars fought over religion? To me there is a huge difference between a persons belief in God and organized religion. Years ago, the faith that I was born into, Baptist, turned me off of that religion because of their never ending need to control the lives not only of other members of the church, but also the lives of people in other counties that did not share the same belief system. When Ronald Reagan become the first conservative and religious leaning President of the United States - at first I thought that having a US government that was based on Christian principles would be a good thing. In hind sight I was completely wrong. Most organized religions are completely based on controlling the behavior of others and in the end all of the worlds major religions have at one time or another consider killing as a justifiable means to a religious end. Jihad is a continuation of the same old theme killing in the name of one’s God is justifiable and is just as deplorable as it was in the past.
Religious organisation certainly can be stifling, restrictive, dogmatic, etc. But it's not a requirement for the definition of "organised religion".
I checked the dictionary to see what it had to say about organized religion. organized religion: an institution to express belief in a divine power; "he was raised in the Baptist religion"; "a member of his own faith contradicted him" http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/organized religion I think "institutionalized" is the key to the understanding of the meaning of organized religion.
something that when given a fair equal chance will prove itself. edit:not to mention that some truths prove themselves even when not given a fair equal chance, i like those, they're easier to spot.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
