Why religion?

[Lúthien Séregon]

Why is religion, of all things, considered by so many people to be the one of the most important aspects of humanity, and why is it the topic that tends to aggravate so many people? It seems an extremely small thing – it’s basically made up of guesses ( some educated, others not ) about the origins of our existence, or the meaning. So why is this seen to be so fundamental?

[Maedhros]

Because religion is a tool to control the masses. Simple.

[Niniel]

Because people have always 1. wanted to know how the world was created, how everything that happens is controlled, and what will be the fate of the world and of men, and 2. always have wanted to believe that they were not alone in the universe, but that their was someone watching over them and protecting them, especially against the forces of nature.

[Snaga]

To combine the above two views, I give you the famous Karl Marx quote, in full (since it is often truncated)Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world - It is the opium of the people.

[Malbeth]

Lúthien, I think your question contains the answer, when you say Religion talks about the meaning of life; that is why religions is so central, and not a small thing at all. To live life meaningfully we must know its meaning. To live a meaningless life is almost the same thing as Hell; it is the state the Bible describes in Ecclesiastes as vanity of vanities (could be said to be "emptyness of emptynesses").

I know I will sound like a fanatic Christian trying to get you to read the bible, but I do think that Ecclesiastes (which is a very small book of the bible) would make a profitable reading when considering this question; by the way the point-of-view of Ecclesiastes is almost naturalistic; very few pietisms are expressed there, you'll see. A Catholic apologet has said that Ecclesiastes is the question to which the rest of the Bible is the attempt to answer.

[HLGStrider]

Because it isn't a little thing. It does deal with several important things:

A. Morality. Most people have some concept of this, even if it is relative.
B. The purpose of life.
C. Something above us.
D. Eternity. . . If you believe in a soul, which some of you don't, you believe humans are more than just here for this lifetime. So what happens afterwards?

There are other reasons. It can bring comfort, based probably most on B, C, and D. It can bring structure, based on A.