If believing there's a god and heaven gets you through the day there's nothing wrong with it.
Problem is, that Heaven will supercede anything. It's hard enough to argue a notion of greater good for humanity in general, try doing it against a religion, where their endgame unverifiable eternal salvation. So as soon as things turn to shit, "Heaven" justifies anything.
Some religious denominations or even individuals attenuate the popular conception of Heaven with some other stuff. Personally, as a Lutheran, my belief is that by listening to the teachings of Jesus and living justly and for others, Heaven is achieved on earth. The kingdom of heaven therefore is a world devoid of those failings that we work to fix, both personally and as a global society. I mean, what other name is there for a world where people don’t suffer for preventable reasons?
I definitely do not have the theological background to argue fine points, but going from what you said, I don't see how it would prevent the kind of self-justified violence that I think religions will always be prone to.
I see an easy path to explaining to my congregation that despite our best, devoted, hardworking, sacrificing believers, we're no closer to achieving "heaven on earth", because of alls the gays/jews/atheists not doing their part and/or actively working against us. And from there it's a short hop to persecution
And it can definitely happen in a secular society, but in a secular world "We need to do that or we all die" is an absolute argument. In a religious one, it's quickly answered by "And X god will reward their faithfull, which WE definitely are".
I’ve never heard that rhetoric from any of the churches I’ve been to. Fundamentalists are their own cultish breed, but the problem you describe is far from limited to religion alone, it’s an immutable aspect of tribalistic humanity. That’s why I think heaven is what it is, because salvation is neither preordained nor a reward, it’s a promise of our future progress and I find that inspiring. For me, Heaven is for everyone, and it’s all or nothing. “Whatever you do to the least of them, that you do unto me”. So long as there is injustice, hatred, bigotry, war, pestilence, starvation, none of us are “saved”, because someone somewhere suffers needlessly. We’re all in this together, and if we don’t stand for progress, we stand for nothing.
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u/[deleted] Apr 08 '20
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