Fair enough, that's just what I interpreted by the phrase outgrow. Like how you like something as a child but you later outgrow it as you get older and you realize how childish that thing was, that's the vibe I was getting from your post, but I was wrong and admit that.
Sure those functions can be fulfilled by other things but some people just want those functions to be fulfilled in accordance with their religion or religious beliefs.
A lot of things are possible in theory, in fact you say that in theory anything can happen.
Sure you can retain a sunny disposition without it but people use religion as a way to retain that sunny disposition in the same way that others use philosophy or literature and there is nothing wrong with that.
Don't get me wrong, its not as if we're on opposite sides of the table, like I said I'm not overly religious. I just understand religion's place in society and many people's lives and the fact that it won't go away completely any time soon (or possibly ever) regardless of how many people have discarded it.
When I use the term outgrow, I do kind of mean it that way. But that doesn't mean I equate people to children just for holding on to religion. I'd use that term for a lot of things, like for example the fact that some people and groups who own oil rights in this world fund think tanks and research groups that contradict the scientific consensus on climate change, just so they can add another zero to their bottom line, even though it's wrecking the world for everybody, themselves included. That stems from an urge that I reckon humanity should outgrow. It's a collective thing, and it's not mocking individuals or large groups, it's just lamenting how little humanity has progressed, despite all that we've managed to figure out about ourselves and our surroundings.
You say that some people just want those functions to be fulfilled in accordance with their religion or religious beliefs... Sure, they have the right to do that, but it invites unfortunate consequences. The same way that some people just want to amass the largest amount of assets that they possibly could over the course of their lifetime, and don't care how many people starve, or get cancer as a result of the fall-out from their companies' policies on things pertaining to environmental impact, or what have you.
Just to be clear, I'm not equating private beliefs to the large scale ramifications of huge corporations actions, I'm just saying that there are real consequences that come out of the doctrines that tend to prop up these faith systems. They hold back civil rights, they get tapped into in political movements that are diabolical, they get in the way of the movement towards equality between men and women (which, incidentally, would go a long way in repairing this broken world, as the education of girls and women is one of the things our world sorely needs to overcome a lot of issues), and the faiths often tend to undermine things like science education just because of their own insecurities. Even in Europe you find movements rallying against evolution because it's perceived as a threat towards the religious impulse, and there are active attempts to curb science literacy, which has devastating consequences in more ways than one.but
Religion is not alone in this, obviously, but it's one of the bigger targets you can hit on this subject when talking about the failings of the world.
I'm sure this response will come across as smug, or intolerant, or judgemental, or all of the above and more, so I'm going to finish this by stating that I'm done for the day. Apologies for any offence caused, it's just an honest opinion, stitched together spontaneously, and is therefore probably structured badly and doesn't elaborate everywhere that it should, and other failings of this sort. I might get back to any responses tomorrow, should I feel up to it.
