Religion vs No Religion

In today's world it seems many feel religion, especially organized religion is un-needed.

I strongly disagree with this notion.  I would like to explain:

The Spirit, voice 
Of goodness, whispers to our hearts
A better choice 
Than evil’s anguished cries.
Loud may the sound 
Of hope ring till all doubt departs,
And we are bound 
To him by loving ties.3

Back in 1978 I was 17 years old and full of energy with the need to break out of the religious culture I was brought up in. For me music was what life was all about. At that time new "Christian Contemporary" music was looked down on by the older people of my Church. My generation was trying so hard to express themselves without loosing the the new found Rock and Roll explosion. I call it the Holy Music War. 

I was always encouraged to listen to conference every six months. I hated it but because my Mom asked me I tried: I'm glad I did because now those talks and inspirations are coming back to me and helping me understand the craziness in the world today.

I remember clear back in 78 the Prophet's warnings:

We shall see in our life time a maxim ... effort ... to establish irreligion as the state religion. [These secularistes will use] the carefully preserved ... freedoms of Western civilization to shrink freedom even as  [They reject] the value ... of our rich Judeo-Christian heritage.

also

Your discipleship may see the time come when religious convictions are heavily discounted ... This new irreligious imperialism [will seek] to disallow certain ... opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions.2

Anyone with eyes can see the truthfulness of these prophesies over 40 years ago is coming about more and more every day all over in the world!  Hostilities and/or indifference's toward religious practices, or expressions, and in some cases religious belief itself. 

David Brooks hinted at this but put it much too mildly when he wrote in his New York Times column, “Take away [the] rich social fabric [that religion has always been,] and what you are left with [are] people who are uncertain about who they really are.”17 My point about “too mildly” is that a rich social fabric, important as that is, says absolutely nothing about the moral state of one’s soul, redemption from physical death, overcoming spiritual alienation from God, the perpetuation of marriage and the family unit into eternity, and so forth—if anyone is considering such issues in a postmodern world.

In fact, religion has been the principal ­influence—not the only one, but the principal one—that has kept Western social, ­political, and cultural life moral, to the extent that these have been moral. And I shudder at how immoral life might have been—then and now—without that influence. Granted, religion has no monopoly on moral action, but centuries of religious belief, including institutional church- or synagogue- or mosque-going, have clearly been preeminent in shaping our notions of right and wrong. Journalist William Saletan put it candidly: “Religion is the vehicle through which most folks learn and practice morality.”6

Looking through history, The greatest works of literature and music came from inspiration from religious means. The Bible, Prayer, even the wrenching questions of sin, society, and salvation. Great Authors like Emily Dickinson, William Faulkner and Flannery O' Connor; C S Lewis was an Athiest who through his own deductions and writings found that the true inspiration came from truth of a God and a Savior. 

The legendary German sociologist Max Weber once described such a loss of religious principle in society as being stuck in an “iron cage” of disbelief.4 And that was in 1904!

It is my observation that throughout history, religious faith has proven itself the most powerful and enduring force in human history. Roman Catholic scholar Robert Royal made  the same point, reaffirming that for many, "religion remains deep, widespread, and persistent, to the surprise and iffitation of those who claimed to have cast aside [religious] illusion to those who under estimate the power of faith.

The power of faith is the most powerful and enduring force in human history. The influence for good in the world.  It is the link between the highest in us and our highest hopes for others. That is why RELIGION MATTERS. Voices of religious faith have elevated our vision, deepened our human conversation, and strengthened both our personal and collective aspirations since time began. How do we even begin to speak of what Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Peter, James, John have given the world?

Not to mention The Prophet Joseph Smith- my Ancestor has given me and my family. 

We need to consider the world-shaping views and moral force that have come to us from a Martin Luther or a John Calvin or a John Wesley in earlier times, or from Billy Graham or a Pope Francis or a Dalai Lama, or my favorite Mother Theresa who continually quoted the Lord Jesus Christ in her philosophy. How about Martin Luther King Jr. who continued the quest for racial and civil justice through religious eloquence at the pulpit and in the street. George Washington prayed at Valley Forge, and Abraham Lincoln's most cherished volume in his library, which he read regularly, was his Bible -- out of which he sought to right a great national wrong and from which , in victory, he called for "malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right."

True religion brings understanding of and loyalty to our Father in Heaven and His uncompromised love for every one of His spirit ­children—past, present, and future. True religion engenders in us faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and hope in His Resurrection. It encourages love, forbearance, and forgiveness in our interactions with one another, 

True religion, the tie that binds us to God and to each other, not only seals our family relationships in eternity but also heightens our delight in those family experiences while in mortality. Well beyond all the civic, social, and cultural gifts religion gives us is the mercy of a ­loving Father and Son who conceived and carried out the atoning mission of that Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, suturing up that which was torn, bonding together that which was ­broken, healing that which was ill or imperfect, “proclaim[ing] liberty to the captives, and . . . opening . . . the prison to them that are bound.”5

I am so very thankful for Religion! It is not just a word, it is the fabric of which humanity comes from. Man may have created the word and organized religions but not without the help of God and His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost.

If one turns away from faith, he/she will pay a much larger price than  prepared to pay .... Its kind of like taking down the protective fence that surrounds your property not realizing that there are ravaging wolves outside ready to attack.

The one truth of every religion is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Gospel meaning "Good News" Jesus Christ meaning "Love and Light".

I am thankful to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. All other Christian religions have truth. But this church has the full Gospel of Jesus Christ meaning the keys of His Priesthood..The power of healing and moving mountains.  

Like my Daddy always said. "Everyone should at least have a piece of the pie, but for me I want the whole pie."  

Embracing the Gospel of Jesus Christ enables us to recognize the truth. This is such an important blessing in this day as we are getting information from every direction and it is very difficult to sort the truth out of all the lies and miss information. We have a modern day Prophet living today President Russell M Nelson who we can turn to for truth and guidance. I am so very thankful for this.

1. BYU Devotional Jeffery R. Holland  "Religion"
2. Elder Neal A. Maxwell was—clear back in 1978  BYU devotional
3. Song "Our Saviors Love" 2nd verse
4.  Max Weber, “Asceticism and the Spirit of Capitalism,” The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, trans. Talcott Parsons (London: Routledge Classics, 1930, 2005), 123; see “Iron cage,” Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_cage.
5. Isaiah 62:1
6.  David Brooks, “How Covenants Make Us,” The Opinion Pages, New York Times, 5 April 2016, nytimes.com/2016/04/05/opinion/how-covenants-make-us.html?rref=collection/column/david-brooks&action=click&contentCollection=opinion®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=
   20&pgtype=collection.