A fair point. I thought it probably meant beneficial, in the sense of beneficial to mankind including the non-religious, rather than useful. But maybe I was wrong.
Ok. Still it depends so much. Religion isnt gomogeneous thing - so many good and bad examples regarding religion you know. I like someone said - no matter what beliefs you have, important thing is what they do with you.
There's no way of dispassionately assessing which is a good religion and which is a bad. But one benefit the "best" might be said to have is tendency towards establishment of a well defined code of behaviour towards others. We call this law, but there's a close relationship between codes of law and religious behavioural codes. Maybe it is these codes of behaviour, starting with religious codes, that have greatly helped human civilisation to develop? And maybe the "best" religions would be those whose codes and state laws are most benign towards non-believers of that religion?
The MAIN beneficiaries of religion are the many thousands that use religion to have a comfortable life and being supposedly superior to others. In the name of some God, so many millions have been murdered. So it is also the tool of the evil people. One of its drawbacks is that the disciples always look back when really they should be looking forward and embracing updates.Perhaps AI will cut through the religious garbage from previous charlatans.
I would strongly recommend somebody to cherry pick through the established religions from the past and streamline it for the benefit of those in the future. The old religions may have been cutting edge a long long time ago but things have moved on.
Too much of it would do you more harm than benefit... Anyway,religion is only useful as a reference point.It`s designed to move your perception from the conventional one(you sit on the stool now and thinking your typing in "On Usefulness of Religion" thread,right?)to get a notion, that some other reality(whereas, in reality, your just in a process of the constant recognition of everything - you are the process) is there. But religion rarely gives you the real sensation of that other reality,just an idea.So your just sitting and thinking, and guessing...and farting around:religion is this,religion is that.But it`s not real you who is thinking now,actually!Life is just being observed through you.lol...........
We probably have to have some sort of a rules based framework to prevent reverting back to the stone age. There may be enough guns out there for everyone in the US to shoot his/her neighbour if chaos were to reign.
" Jeff Hietala 1 year ago This songs lyrics have greater relevance today then ever before!! Mass, shootings, wars in Israel and middle east, police aggression against black Americans, violent protests, terrorist attacks. I wish we could bring back Lennon, MLK, and Gandhi. . If they were all alive today they would not approve of the violence and hatred today. Jacques Nel 1 year ago I used to absolutely detest this song. Blinded by my ignorance and naïve belief in the comfortable paranoid fantasies of religion, I opposed anything that contradicted my world view. I couldn't imagine a world without a heaven, nor without religion. Now, however, I find myself free from the oppressive beliefs I used to entertain and able to realise the true beauty that is this masterpiece. " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_galaxy