Does your religion make you a better person?

Well, I’m a scientologist, so I’m going to need payment before I give my answer.

Edit: After the sarcasm question, I’ll give a serious answer. I’m the same decent human as when I was a religious preteen and now as an atheist.

No.

I make myself a better person. My religion keeps things in perspective.

Yes, it gives me inspiration to further my practice of being a decent person, and gives me a method of instilling disciplining and learning how to center myself and sit down and shut up.

No, I don’t think i’d be a lesser person without it. My beliefs are compassionate and humanitarian in nature so they exist outside of any particular faith, and if I clung to buddhist traditions, then I would have entirely missed the point of the dharma anyway.

Oh yes. I’d be killing, maiming, and raping if there weren’t the threat of eternal damnation looming over me~

I’m not sure how one measures the quality of a person, first of all. That said, I think that the ultimate purpose of any religion should be to develop a tender heart and to quicken compassion. Anything else is gravy.

Is a compassionate, tender-hearted person “better”? I’m pretty sure they’re happier and will wreak less havoc in the world. But they’ll probably also be less inclined to compare themselves to others on some quality scale.

I have no idea where I am on any scale. All I can see is that I’ve got a hell of a lot of improving to do. My religion constantly brings that fact to my attention. It keeps goading me along, not letting me get complacent. To look back and measure how far I’ve come seems utterly beside the point.

I am a much more decent person now as an atheist than I was as a christian. When I was a christian I was good because I was afraid of displeasing god. As an atheist, I’m good because it is the right thing to do and it helps my neighbors.

@chyna makes me a better person too.

her religion only comes up when she’s drinking . . .

^{{{hugs}}}

I was going to take a stab at answering this question, but @thorninmud said it so succinctly and eloquently, there is no need. Beautiful @thorninmud, I wish I could give 10,000 lurve. Thank you.

I think some people might feel they are better people because of their religious belief, and it might be true from a reasonably objective standpoint. Some people seem to need religion to stay on the straight and narrow. Some people find peace, happiness, meaning and order in their life through their religion, and so I guess they would say their religion makes them a better person. Many many atheists and not religious people are just as “good” and happy, peaceful, charitable, honest, caring, loving, as religious people.

So, my answer basically is if your religion makes you a better person, and a better neighbor and part of your family, community and society, then I say I am glad you found that through your religious beliefs. If you have all those things without religion, just as a good.

I am not religious, so I have no fear of eternal punishment for my deeds. Despite what many people think, however, this does not mean I believe life is a free-for-all of selfishness and greed. If this life is the only life we have, we should do what we can to make it as pleasant as possible for everyone involved. I think this belief helps make me a good person.

Yes last two years I am a Catholic but I switched to the religion they called Church of Christ. And I can say that it made me a better person. Twice a week I’m attending the mass andI am not doing it when I was a catholic.

lol, i don’t have a formal religion. But my religious behaviors make me a pretty cool person. I’m sure I could’ve turned out a little worse.

Yes to the first and no to the second.

I was once religious and now I am not. I am a better person now than I was when I believed, but I don’t think that’s got much to do with my once-upon-a-time religious beliefs. I grew as a person, and I think that still would have happened even if I stayed religious.

Outside of the belief in a higher purpose I have no particular religion, religious book or church that I follow. Basically my beliefs are very simple and they are to focus on this life, being in service to others when I can and trying to be kind to others especially when they’re down.

My answer to your first question is no since I think that actions and the motivation for them are what’s important. My answer to your second question is no for the same reasons as I’ve described above.

No. Being part of a religion most definitely not make you a better person. Being a good person and treating others with courtesy and respect where possible is what makes you a better person. Some religious people have been the most arrogant, disgraceful people I have ever met but some of them have been among the most wonderful, kind hearted people I have ever met. It depends what you take from your holy book.