DiscussMormonism.com

Does belief in the LDS church help people be better, good, respectful, or more decent human beings?

Does any religion? Any belief system?

If a person wanted to become the best person she/he could be, is there evidence that a particular path is better than another?

Is there any evidence that a particular belief system helps people become better/kinder human beings?

In your individual life, religious or not, are you trying to live a good/decent/respectful life? Do you think your particular path is helping you? Might there be a better way? Do you care to improve your life or are you satisfied with your level of goodness/kindness/compassion/decency?

I totally know the idea of good/decent/better is subjective and don't really want to get into a discussion about what this is... generally speaking, we all sort of know what a decent, respectful, compassionate, caring human being is, at least I think. ;-) Or, just go with your personal definition.



Just wondering what your thoughts are on this... if you have any you would like to share. :-)

Thanks,

~dancer~

I know it's a very 'flaky' answer, but I do truly believe it totally depends on the combination of the individual and the belief in question.

To use Mormonism as the specific example:
I think some people are better off in Mormonism. They might well be better people than they would be outside it - with a less 'structured' belief, or no belief.
And I think the opposite can be true of other people. Mormonism can bring out the worst in them.

Totally based off observation really - no hard figures to go backing that up with...

In your individual life, religious or not, are you trying to live a good/decent/respectful life? Do you think your particular path is helping you? Might there be a better way? Do you care to improve your life or are you satisfied with your level of goodness/kindness/compassion/decency?

I think the best decision I've ever made is making liberty the center of my moral thinking. It took leaving Mormonism - and forcing myself into reassessing my whole outlook to 'right' and 'wrong' to really latch onto that properly, and I haven't looked back since.
I do consider myself a better person now than then. Not 'that' much better, but a bit...

What a wonderful topic! I actually think about this quite a bit. I often find myself reflecting on who I am and who I'd rather be in how I deal with my fellow humans.

In your individual life, religious or not, are you trying to live a good/decent/respectful life? Do you think your particular path is helping you? Might there be a better way? Do you care to improve your life or are you satisfied with your level of goodness/kindness/compassion/decency?

I'm not religious, at all, yet I do try to be a respectful, compassionate person. My path is just that I strive to do what I can when I see someone in need, work at empathy and compassion. I would like to improve my level of compassion and kindness. I am so ashamed and upset when I do something unkind -- I actually become quite fretful about this (beastie can vouch!) and feel awful if I think I hurt someone. It is so difficult for me not to lash out when I've been pained in some manner. I know that I am temperamental and can be hateful -- I think not wanting to be that person is half the battle for me.

I went through a few periods in my life where I was very angry and bitter. I really didn't like who I was -- at all. I was dismayed that I was gaining satisfaction, and quite a bit of pleasure, by hurting others. It was then when I realized that I was doing this because I was in pain. As soon as I realized this I decided that I would earnestly attempt to treat all (even those that rile me or hurt me) with fairness and empathy. I really put a lot of effort into this and slowly it just became second nature to me. If I hurt someone I found that I was just hurting myself with the guilt that accompanied it.

I derive such satisfaction from treating my fellow humans with kindness that I just do it out of pure selfishness. It just feels better to be kind than not. It's that simple for me.

~~adding this~~
Not sure what "goodness" is. I imagine many things I've done, or do, may be rather sinful. I don't necessarily see what I do, that I derive satisfaction from, (that does not hurt others) as impacting my life in a negative way. If it impacts others than that is different.

And now I'm just sitting here feeling guilty about some not very nice things I've typed lately. I can do without the guilt. :(

It's no good for me when I'm unkind. No doubt I fret about it more than my target.

I think religion better people. It gives them a code of ethics to practice. However, even the gentlest religion can go stray. Look at how the Zen Buddhists were co-opted into the Cult of the Emperor in pre-World War II Japan. Also, some quasi-religions like the Cult of Ayn Rand can even produce adherents with a deficit of desire for social responsibility.

Moniker wrote:What a wonderful topic! I actually think about this quite a bit. I often find myself reflecting on who I am and who I'd rather be in how I deal with my fellow humans.

In your individual life, religious or not, are you trying to live a good/decent/respectful life? Do you think your particular path is helping you? Might there be a better way? Do you care to improve your life or are you satisfied with your level of goodness/kindness/compassion/decency?

I'm not religious, at all, yet I do try to be a respectful, compassionate person. My path is just that I strive to do what I can when I see someone in need, work at empathy and compassion. I would like to improve my level of compassion and kindness. I am so ashamed and upset when I do something unkind -- I actually become quite fretful about this (beastie can vouch!) and feel awful if I think I hurt someone. It is so difficult for me not to lash out when I've been pained in some manner. I know that I am temperamental and can be hateful -- I think not wanting to be that person is half the battle for me.

I went through a few periods in my life where I was very angry and bitter. I really didn't like who I was -- at all. I was dismayed that I was gaining satisfaction, and quite a bit of pleasure, by hurting others. It was then when I realized that I was doing this because I was in pain. As soon as I realized this I decided that I would earnestly attempt to treat all (even those that rile me or hurt me) with fairness and empathy. I really put a lot of effort into this and slowly it just became second nature to me. If I hurt someone I found that I was just hurting myself with the guilt that accompanied it.

I derive such satisfaction from treating my fellow humans with kindness that I just do it out of pure selfishness. It just feels better to be kind than not. It's that simple for me.

~~adding this~~
Not sure what "goodness" is. I imagine many things I've done, or do, may be rather sinful. I don't necessarily see what I do, that I derive satisfaction from, (that does not hurt others) as impacting my life in a negative way. If it impacts others than that is different.

I'm not religious, at all, yet I do try to be a respectful, compassionate person

What are you trying to say moniker? those peachy attributes are licensed to religious people?
If anything, being religious skews peoples perspective on morality & compassion terribly in unhealthy way.

moksha wrote: Also, some quasi-religions like the Cult of Ayn Rand can even produce adherents with a deficit of desire for social responsibility.

Hey now! I indoctrinated myself with Ayn Rand (no one else -- just me by my lonesome sucking up her philosophy before I met another libertarian or the availability of the internet) and it had NO effect on my compassion and empathy for others. EVER! If anything it made me MORE aware of how I impacted others! MORE AWARE! I had to strive to live my life without manipulating others or asking others to fulfill my desires as well as going about making as little impact on others.

I am so sick of LDS and ex-LDS saying I was in a cult! Sheesh -- if so it was a one teen/woman army. :)

I had NO group think! Even as I sucked up the philosophy I realized I should question it -- and I did -- which is why I dismissed it years later.

solomarineris wrote:

I'm not religious, at all, yet I do try to be a respectful, compassionate person

What are you trying to say moniker? those peachy attributes are licensed to religious people?

Uh.... no.... the question was if there was religion that did this.... and I stated that I'm not religious and still strive to be a 'good person'. I often see that religion is correlated to being a 'good' person. There is no correlation.

If anything, being religious skews peoples perspective on morality & compassion terribly in unhealthy way.

Right. Thanks for clearing that up for me. :)

moksha wrote:Also, some quasi-religions...

What's a 'quasi'-religion?

RenegadeOfPhunk wrote:

moksha wrote:Also, some quasi-religions...

What's a 'quasi'-religion?

I was wondering if you were asleep. ;)

Uh! Oh! :D