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Topic ClosedIs Religion Actually Psychology?
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Poll Question: Well?
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Points: 7971 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Is Religion Actually Psychology?
    Posted: January 15 2011 at 21:16
Originally posted by lazland lazland wrote:

Indeed, the Apostles would have reacted with utter horror had they been around to witness the finery, riches, and flummery that is associated with the modern church - most of them had absolutely nothing, barely the ragged clothes on their backs. 


God damn it, if the Western Roman Empire did not fall and people gave their posessions to the Church for whatever reason in the cource of centuries, it would not have anything really wothwile. History explains quite well how The Church acquired most of their possetions throughout the Middle Ages without much effort.
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Points: 101 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2011 at 20:57
Originally posted by Epignosis Epignosis wrote:


Clap

Let me add to this that Christians of the early church were to die for Christ- not kill for him.  Smile

If you look very carefully at history though, it wasn't Christianity per se that advocated the horrors often associated with Christianity- recall that in Rome, Christianity was a persecuted sect for quite some time. It wasn't until government picked up religion as a tool for its own ends that things really began to get nasty.

Two examples that immediately spring to mind are Emperor Constantine's political maneuvering in 313 and Byzantine Emperor Alexius I's plea for help in 1095 that eventually led to the first Crusade- interesting because Alexius I had been excommunicated by Gregory VII and so had to reconcile with the Catholic Church first at the Council of Piacenza. LOL

Thank you.  As a Christian, I'm rather tired of being held responsible for every atrocity in history through the vague association with "religion."  Oh, most people don't make that terrible argument, but the ones that do tend to be as obnoxious as the religious people who posit straw man arguments of their own against other religions and/or nonbelievers.

Religion and psychology have wholly separate definitions, so no, religion is neither psychology nor is it a subset of psychology.  The fact is that the religions of the world are so different from each other that grouping them together is in itself problematic.  I know the most about my own religion, and it relies extensively on faith.   The T already noted that religion relies on faith (I agree, as far as every religion I can think of is concerned, but maybe there are exceptions), while psychology relies on the scientific method.  That's an argument I can agree with.

EDIT: Oh, and:

Quote There's a difference though in how people make decisions - the religious ones tend to defer to authorities more easily. For example, if I asked you whether abortion was moral or immoral, you would rather quickly refer to scripture or other religious persons (leaders). I do think that religion affects how we think, and thus our psychology.

You discuss the Bible, but you made a generalized statement, so I'll treat it as one.  I rarely use my faith to justify my political views.  And I've found that the non-religious are just as quick to defer to authorities of their own.  The hero worship of Barack Obama by both the religious and non-religious was pretty stunning, and that was nothing compared to some other historical leaders or even presidents.

Is there any evidence that really demonstrates that the religious "defer to authorities more easily?"  I've never seen it.  This may be purely anecdotal, but if anything, my faith has made me more suspicious of human authority than I otherwise would be.


Edited by Hanyou - January 15 2011 at 21:06
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Points: 11415 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2011 at 08:39
Originally posted by Negoba Negoba wrote:

Everything is gynecology....to a 12 year old boy.


Much of Frank Zappa's humour was testimony to that remark Wink
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Points: 5208 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2011 at 07:40
Everything is gynecology....to a 12 year old boy.
You are quite a fine person, and I am very fond of you. But you are only quite a little fellow, in a wide world, after all.
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Points: 29630 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2011 at 07:10
maybe
Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...
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Points: 85 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 15 2011 at 06:00
There's no point in asking a question like that without explaining what you mean. Is religion actually psychology? Is geography actually literary analysis? Is mathematics actually gynecology? You're an idiot.
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Points: 741 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 12 2011 at 18:27

It's understanding the psychology of people to use it but it's more charisma so I say no.
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Points: 34550 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 08 2011 at 00:10
Originally posted by Henry Plainview Henry Plainview wrote:

In fact, I believe llama is an atheist libertarian and he is still pro-life.

However, what we really need in this thread is more pointless religion discussion/bashing. 


Hmmmmm I have a feeling you're in luck!
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Points: 29630 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 07 2011 at 20:22
I think religion is astrology.
Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...
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Points: 11415 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 07 2011 at 20:15
Originally posted by The T The T wrote:

Religion: uses the... faith method. 


Not forgetting the rhythm method Big smile
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Points: 11415 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 07 2011 at 20:13
Originally posted by stonebeard stonebeard wrote:

If OP intends to imply that religious belief and the structures and social interactions that resulted from it are all a result of how curious our brains are, then I agree.

In many ways humanity is very aware and very alone, and clearly our primitive brains did not like that.


There is strong evidence to suggest (or rampant speculation, take yer pick http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicameralism_(psychology) that what we might describe as 'cavemen' had bicameral minds i.e. they believed the source of any idea was external (similar to schizophrenics 'hearing voices' in their head)

There's a good album by Underground Railroad on this site inspired by such ideas as outlined in Julian Jaynes book 'The Origin of Consciousness' from 1976.
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Points: 24297 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 07 2011 at 16:13
I voted No, with the remark that true psychologists should be fascinated by religion.
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Points: 17493 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 06 2011 at 18:35
Psychology: uses the scientific method. 

Religion: uses the... faith method. 

Enough to establish a difference. 

Now, of course you can use psychology to explore people's relation with religion; or you could say like some extremists that religion is a psychological problem; or you could say that your religious views affect your psychological behaviors. True. You can say many more things like this. But saying they are the same is, excuse me, ridiculous.  
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Points: 15784 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 06 2011 at 17:51
You should have put it in your first post.

It's not distinct; it's a branch of philosophy.
"One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. "
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Points: 3281 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 06 2011 at 17:42
You try putting it into a topic heading. Anyway I contend that religion is not actually a distinct academic discipline.
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Points: 15784 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 06 2011 at 17:40
That's an entirely different question than asking if religion is psychology.
"One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. "
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Points: 3281 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 06 2011 at 17:34

People saying religion doesn't entirely fit into psychology are correct. Elements of it belong in sociology and even perhaps anthropology. However in terms of why a specific person believes and the need for belief, that's psychological.
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Points: 28057 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 06 2011 at 14:56
If OP intends to imply that religious belief and the structures and social interactions that resulted from it are all a result of how curious our brains are, then I agree.

In many ways humanity is very aware and very alone, and clearly our primitive brains did not like that.
My soundcloud. Please give feedback if you want!
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Points: 15784 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 06 2011 at 14:45
Sociologist would be interested in studying religion, but religion is far from being sociology. 
"One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. "
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Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 06 2011 at 14:33
I would have said sociology rather than psychology for religion per se, whereas psychology would have more to do with the nature of the belief itself than the religion that supports it,
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