Lone Apothecary said:
Religion may help some folks, but I don't think it helps in any way that something non-religious couldn't. Being an atheist in a religious community is a bother though.
@bulmabriefs144: Not to be rude, but you don't seem to have the best grasp of atheism and agnosticism. Firstly, they're not mutually exclusive. I'm an agnostic atheist. I don't claim to know no higher powers exist, but I don't believe in any. The way you said "atheists/nihilists" is odd. That makes it seem like they're very similar, but they aren't. Also, the concept of needing something to keep you going is silly. I'm still going, so are all the other species of animals that don't care for higher powers.
Let me put it this way (actually, I probably shouldn't put it at all, or risk a religious war, but here goes). Let's assume a theoretical person and name him
Roger Smith. Hmmm, how to put this...
...Read Paul Tillich. He talks in (either "Dynamics of Faith" or "The Courage to Be") that "faith is the absolute concern" (or was it ultimate). In other words, Roger Smith isn't really a Christian, or Buddhist, or whatever, these are just titles. The "religion" or "God" of Roger Smith is RogerSmithism. Whatever he believes, whoever he is, basically everything, up to including what coffee he likes for breakfast, is all contained inside RogerSmithism.
(Also, I probably misunderstood what I was reading, as Tillich was back in college) Anyway...
The reason I have a beef with the word atheist, is it's like saying that suddenly this guy loses what makes him himself and becomes like a clone of everyone else, or zombie, or tomato/whatever (even his name is lost, and I will no longer call him ***** *****). To me, "God" is not defined as "some fluffy old man (or whatever) in the sky." It's "what makes purpose and existence" (and to be perfectly clear, it's not "something that makes people have purpose" but rather "the state of having purpose/existing"). One's "God" is one's "soul" (whether or not you believe in souls, more or less, one's existence and/or personality). Thus, if you can't even believe in your own beliefs, you're synonymous with nihilist.
A person who does not believe in conventional religions or the existence of deities, is one who doubts, or believes such truths are unknowable. But they are hardly a nihilist, and if the working definition I was going by holds true (whatever one's "core" is, even atheism, is one's "God"), then atheism is a logical paradox, and to avoid reasoning something along this, it's better to say agnostic. There are vast gradations of agnosticism from being almost a believer in some religion to being agnostic only in name, and pretty much not caring about religion at all.
Btw, the word
religion means literally to "reconnect" (lig- root is where you get words like ligament which are connecting tissues in the body). What are you reconnecting with? Yourself and other people. You don't need a complex belief system for that.
"What makes you continue to exist" is just that. Let's say you had all the proof in the world, that you weren't real. Could you unbelieve yourself out of existence? (hint: no.) This same "whatever" thing (we're not using the words "souls, God, or core" anymore) is apparently possessed by everything in this world, even rocks and such. Understanding what is about you that you value can save your life (but only if you want it to, which is why some people are saved by their religion and some throw their lives away anyway). This is also why Buddhists correctly can be called "atheists" they actually don't believe in self.
So to conclude, religion can relieve depression, or since it is based off personal belief framework, can in a lonely/disconnected person, actually make that person more depressed.
(I'm a theology minor, who instead of becoming a priest or theologian, became a gardener. Don't ask.)
