Can religion change a person for the better?

[Meriweather]

@amadeus

I think that there are some talented priests/ministers/rabbis, etc. Many are trained in social work. If it includes religion, or doesn’t, I hope that people find help. I’m an atheist. But I have had problems (who hasn’t). I was under the care two talented psychiatrists. I will not go into my diagnosis (which by the way was never discussed). Here is how it helped. It helped me to form a more committed relationship with my girlfriend and we now have been together for 30 years (and eventually married–I did not marry until I was 50). It helped me to take more risks in my professional life, which resulted in many rewarding relationships and projects that may not have ever happened. The big difference in my case, I think, was that I was not cool with the trajectory of my life. I wanted to change. If religion helps, great. That was not me.

Loved hearing your success story!

Society as a whole needs to look at how religion is being taught and/or presented. Saying, “Religion is not for me” is like saying, “Sitting is not for me” or, “Getting out of bed is not for me”, or “Being kind to animals is not for me.”

We need to look at how something completely natural is “Not for me”, i.e., Mom made seat cushions out of porcupine quills; I stay in bed because I am a quadriplegic; I was kindly set out cat food for a stray cats, and before I knew it I had a hundred cats swarming my property.

Religion is an introduction to God. We need to figure out what is wrong with the way we are introducing people to a being of pure love because drawing close to love is as natural as sitting down, getting up in the morning, and being kind.

[Gnostic_Bishop]

If I look at religions overall, I would say that they make people worse and not better.

I think good example of that evil is the inquisitions and jihads and how Christians adore a genocidal and infanticidal god and his homophobic and misogynous religions.

Regards
DL