Shoud We Ditch?

As far as religion goes, I am pretty up in the air about it. I am not a strong believer in or against religion. But I definitely think that religion is something that should not be ditched. I believe that religion has endured for so long in human history and I don't think that it will every disappear. In "Why We Believe," I believe this article contradicts the notion of ditching religion. Though the article takes a very scientific approach to explaining the existence of religion, the scientific conclusions made basically say that humans are hardwired to believe in a higher power.  Some people may argue that because the existence of religion can be explained by science it should be ditched altogether in favor of science.  But this article basically states that religion is human nature. It's unavoidable and part of who we are. I would say that the adaptationist view is the strongest contradiction to the notion of ditching religion. The adaptationist view is that humans created religion because it directly benefited the group as a whole. Though the circumstances centuries and centuries ago were much different than they are now, there are aspects of religion in all ages that benefit societies as a whole. Centuries ago when all the technological advances had yet to be made, religion served as a way to get people together, create a collective group that could work together to protect themselves from the elements and hardships they had to endure. Today, worries have completely changed from surviving a long winter to making enough money to send your kids to a proper college, or from building protecting yourself from wild animals to undergoing surgery or battling depression. Though the woes have changed, the need for a strong support group to get you through something is there and will always be there.

I personally believe there are several alternate ways of thinking about religion. I don't believe we will ever truly know what is out there until we pass away. So instead of focusing on if there is a god or not, I think we should focus on the function of religion. Many fundamentalists would argue that the function of religion is to educate people to solely serve god because you will be saved upon death. They believe God as fact. But I say, don't worry about that. There is really no way of ever knowing. Instead, look at religion as a way to bring people together. It is a way for people to meet their acquaintances, friends, family, lovers. I prefer to think of religion as a community. Also, something that was not really addressed in the article is the fact that religion acts as a moral compass. Though religions differ greatly in what they believe in, they all have a moral code that their followers try to follow at all times. Religion helps to guide us. In conclusion, I prefer to not think about the existence of god frankly because there is really no way to prove it and, to me, it isn't the main function of religion.