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imho, your hope comes from friendship...
the point of this frienship is religion, but it could be anything...

Yes I really agree, cos I also thought about it and my opinion is that the "God" can be called however- love friends sun dark etc...Is just that everyperson has something other he believes in or what keeps him going..."God" should be something what makes you happy....
In Bible it is said that God is everywhere...in everything and everytime! Thats why I thought of it.

religion = hope? Nope! :)

If you look back into history religon does have a way of giveing people hope.

if u read Orwell's 1984, u'll find out that paradoxally, war is hope...
therefor religion can be a factor of hope due to the wars it generates....

religion = hope mm , well id have to say it depends how seriously one takes it definatly, and that it ALSO can mean death, war, destruction depending on where one stands, (one of the reason i perfer personal spirituality, it DOESNT involve politics, and as such is much less dangerous then institutionalised religions) , well that was quite the tangent

mm i didnt notice that comment about religious people living longer until now , well in my experience that people who APPEAR to be religious to others in the dominent religions of the area DO live longer simply because they tend to be harrassed, (and i mean REALLY harrased) to the point where is often does lose several years of their life, not NEARLY as rare as id like it to be but there u go

religion=diminished responsibility.

Religion = enhanced responsibility and the finding of ones self with the assitance of thier God, Buddah etc..

although we do find our own religion within our selfs to follow not nessisarily the main stream religions.

Religion does give some people a sense of hope. But if your athiest like me than you can get hope from other things like friends, bands, etc..

i dont understand though how someone atheist or anyone who does not only have a religion but doubts the existance of a God, are'nt you scared to die then? would'nt you grow more horrified as you grow older? think about it, if you dont believe in an after life, then thats it.... its over... nothingness, never think another thought, never have another feeling, never again to visually see something, never again to speak another word? can you imagine this or even comprehend this?

MannyBeBop, exactly. That is one of the reasons why religion represents hope. To know that it is not the end after you die, to believe that you will still continue on your journey. Simply put, life after death.

I consider myself agnostic, I'm nowhere near articulate enough to really explain what I think, but I've always thought that religion is pretty much something people need, to hold onto, to have faith.

And it's true what you just said, I do indeed find it scary to think that after I die, there will be no more. Nothing left. I lost a person I loved a few years ago, and I could never really understand how is it that one could live a life, and then just disappear. Their experiences, their thoughts, their feelings...where does it all go? It frightens me to think of death, so I've decided to, as cliched as it is, live life to the fullest. I only have one of it anyway.

Okay, I just went off tangent here..but anyways, yes, I do think that religion is hope.

No MannyBebop, I am not scared of death, I mean Im not too keen on it happening right now :-) but I dont see any reason for that to scare me.

What I think you meant with your equation (correct me if I am wrong) is that religion=motivation, depending on ones opinions.

I believe that some of the occurences in life that, if you are an advocate of free will, may be eliviated as 'Gods will.' You seem to be saying about the motivation of a spiritual journey for instance enlightenment which, although I agree with you, is totally different.

MannyBebop, i am an atheist and i do not fear death as death is inevitabel, there is no good reason in fearing the inevitabel, it will happen. if i feared death i would spend my life tring to ilude (sp) it and so not enjoying my life to the full, beliveing that there is nothing after i die means i can enjoy my life that i have now.

no, i dont believe in gods will. just in his assistance to help me achieve my own will.

my ex who we had a really deep conversation and now were even closer then when we went out he parents got devorced father was a real d*ck and an a**hole her mother went full koser house (yes they r jewish) and i guess her mother looked to relgion for hope and whatnot and i hope her mother does achieve the goal that she wants to cuz shes a great person she managed to raise a great family and i have to show respect for that.. but i lost my faith in god for my own reasons big whole betrayl thingy.. but anywho my friend was the first one to show up to the hospital and all she was really there for me which was majorly kool cuz when ur down to ur lowest and u need people if people show up those and those only r ur true friends if they stick around and help u get back on ur feet then they r the best thing u could want outa a friend...

but i guees like clothing, religion is to ech their own some think praying makes a difference that god will help them but i think its all in the persons will power in their desire. im supposta be dead severl skull fractures concussion 4 brain contusions blood and spinal fluid commin outa both ears whole nine yard all head truma im supposta be 6 feet under simply wnough i got hit with a car friend was in ti hench the whole betrayl thing but im still here b/c i have to finish some goals in life that i deem more important than anything that i feel need to be reached. plus i need to get rich so i cna bite the bullet wit ha lamborgine diablo GT in the drive way *droolllliiiinnnggggg i love that car *

but yea i kinda agree that to some peopel religion may be a search for hope

There are too many things which can give you hope to list. Anything that our weakly developed mental capabilities cannot possibly calculate accurately can be used as a tool to inspire hope or despair.

Religion is basically an elaborate argument that is based on intangibles. Intangibles based on nothing more than moral concepts for the most part. To debate something that is opinion (which morality is) is more or less futile. Futile and most of the time bloody.

I remember being told religion was created back in the day to control the masses, by those with the most influence... so that they could keep their power and alleviate the fear of someone takeing it.

This makes a certain sense to me; even if I dont appreciate the message that we're just sheep to be led around by our noses.

Apparently without fear of concequences people do whatever they want without regard for the effects on their environment. Ever hear of might makes right?

All in all, my opinion is that as with anything, theres a positive way to use something (usually corresponds with moderation) and then theres the over enthusiastic, zealous way.

think of my views of God as a mixture between chirstian and taoist. i think God is the ultimate good and that everything is a part of Him. so i get hope from the fact that I believe that the ultimate good is part of all things (not just humans).

i have yet to find what path is right for me. not sure if i ever will. if your faith gives you hope and makes you a better person, wonderful. the time i start to have issues is when i hear 'my way is the only true way' and then disregard all other faiths and claim them to be false. it's all about respect and tolerance.

Simply following your heart and morals can be religion enough for you. You know whats Right and you Know whats wrong. and no one can complain about it nor should you let people tell you your wrong, as long as you feel it in your very soul that what ever you do is right but if your wrong, then simply learn from it. its called trial and error and by doing this you will develope your own religion and beliefs.

RabdSquid, I agree with you there. I too am not sure if I will eer find the perfect path for me, or perhaps my own religion is trying to find one :-)

You know, religion as hope is a good thing. And that's what a lot of individual people have. But put that all together and you have one of the most destructive forces in our creation. How can hope kill and burn people, bomb people. Does that make any sense? People use religion to restrict other's beliefs. To me that doesn't seem like hope at all. I think too often religion is used as a mask of righteousness to do horrible things to eachother. I don't know, religion is an extremely touchy subject to me so I'll just stay out of it. All I'm saying is, it doesn't make any sense for religion to be for hope if it involves us taking away the hope and joy from other people.

Excellent point Morrigon. organied religion can cause a lot of problems in society.