3sigma said:
Religious beliefs are used a shield against the harshness of reality.
I don't want to start an argument over this, but I would like to see what evidence supports this one-sided view of religion.
Ive given you only one characteristic of religions. Religions are many-sided. For example, they also cause unnecessary harm by promoting ignorance and encouraging intolerance, cruelty and violence.
However, in answer to your request, here is some evidence that religious beliefs are used as a shield against the harshness of reality. You can see much of this evidence in the posts by religious believers here in these forums.
Religious beliefs are used mainly to overcome insecurity (fear and anxiety). Religious believers confirm their insecurity with their incessant desire for, obsession with and talk about being saved. It is the insecure who constantly yearn to be saved.
Religious believers fear death. The harsh reality is that there is no sound reason not to think that death is a permanent end to our existence. Religious beliefs are used as a shield against that harsh reality to assuage the fear of death. It is probably no coincidence that the most successful religions are those that promise eternal life. The fear of death is confirmed by the numerous religious euphemisms for the word 'died' (for example, passed away, passed on, passed over, passed to the other side, gone to heaven, gone to meet his/her maker, with the celestial choir, with the angels, with the heavenly father, in God's care, residing with Jesus, etc.). Religious believers are desperate to avoid acknowledging death or accepting that it is the end of their existence.
Religious believers fear the unknown. The harsh reality is that here are probably some questions to which we will never know the answer. Religions shield religious believers from that harsh reality by providing an answer to every question, even if that answer is something as worthless as "God did it". Religions provide shallow answers to comfort shallow thinkers.
Religious believers fear uncertainty. The harsh reality is that life is filled with shades of grey and there is very little in life that is certain (except perhaps the certainty that one day we will die). Religions shield religious believers from that uncertainty by encouraging them to think in terms of absolutes, extremes and false dichotomies. Religious believers tend to see one extreme position or two opposing extreme positions as the only possible positions. For example, religious believers tend towards moral absolutism. Many religious believers are
absolutely certain that their God exists contrary to the harsh reality that there is a complete lack of any sound evidence supporting that belief.
Religions provide prayer as a shield against the harsh reality that there are many things over which we have no control. Prayer is nothing more than ritual handwringing used to assuage fear and anxiety. Religions provide hope, which is usually just self-deception or confident expectation that the ludicrously implausible will occur (for example, life after death).
Im guessing you can find many more examples of religious beliefs being used as a shield against the harshness of reality in the posts from religious believers here and in conversations you may have with religious believers.