{"id":2003629,"date":"2023-08-17T12:38:01","date_gmt":"2023-08-17T16:38:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/substitutes-for-religion-are-meaningless\/"},"modified":"2023-08-17T12:41:51","modified_gmt":"2023-08-17T16:41:51","slug":"substitutes-for-religion-are-meaningless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/substitutes-for-religion-are-meaningless\/","title":{"rendered":"Religion substitutes are void of meaning."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsubstitutes-for-religion-are-meaningless%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2003629&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>The Role of Religion in Society<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<p><i>The following is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jordan-peterson-why-i-joined-dailywire\/\" title=\"JORDAN PETERSON: Why I Joined DailyWire+\">transcript excerpt<\/a> from \u200cDr. Jordan B. Peterson\u2019s conversation with Clay Routledge on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sarah-huckabee-sanders-responds-after-group-demands-she-remove-kids-chalk-cross-from-outside-of-arkansas-governors-mansion\/\" title=\"Sarah Huckabee Sanders addresses demand to remove kids' chalk cross from Arkansas Governor's Mansion.\">role religion plays<\/a> in society. You can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/podcasts\/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast\/s4-e54-death-meaning-and-the-power-of-the-invisible-world-clay-routledge-the-jbp-podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">listen to<\/a> \u200d or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/episode\/s4-e54-death-meaning-and-the-power-of-the-invisible-world-clay-routledge-the-jbp-podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">watch<\/a> the full\u200d podcast\u2064 on \u2063DailyWire+.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><em>Start time: \u200d1:24:10<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Jordan B. \u2062Peterson:<\/h3>\n<p><b>More academically oriented thinkers have \u2062proposed critiques of religion that reduce it to a single\u2064 dimension, and then\u200b criticize it\u2062 along that\u2062 dimension. The atheist\u2062 types like Richard Dawkins \u200ctend to think that \u2062belief in God is like belief in a \u200bstateable proposition: Is God real, like is\u200b a \u200dtable\u2063 real? And it is not\u2063 obvious\u200b that that\u200b is \u200bthe proper way to formulate that issue. You can \u2062make it\u2062 absurd almost immediately by \u200breducing it to that sort of representation, but there \u2064are a multitude of functions that religious\u2063 traditions serve. Even people\u2064 like \u200b [Ernest] \u2063 Becker basically reduced\u2062 it to a single dimension: It is a defense against death anxiety. \u200dWell, it may be that, but it certainly is not <i>only<\/i> that. It is a \u200dvery complex issue. But people run into these critiques: Marx\u2019s critique (religion is the opiate of the masses)\u2063 or the Freudian critique (God is essentially \u2064an infantile projection \u2063of the father). Yes, sometimes in some cases and in some ways. But it depends\u200c to some degree.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Maybe you can tell me what you \u200bthink\u200d about this: It seems to \u2063me that the core of a culture is something\u200c that is essentially \u2062religious, by \u200cdefinition. \u200dIf you look at what unites\u2064 people across \u200cgeography \u200cand time, there \u2063is some central conception of the world as spirit \u2064that brings\u2064 people \u200btogether implicitly and\u2062 explicitly. And if you dispense with that, \u200dthen what? You have demonstrated that you get people \u200badopting rather odd \u200bbeliefs. So that is a kind of\u200b heresy, essentially. There\u2063 is\u2063 an automatic tendency to\u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/substitutes-for-religion-are-meaningless\/\" title=\"Religion substitutes are void of meaning.\">produce\u200d heretical religions<\/a>; \u2064that is\u2063 the consequence. And maybe some of those are political, and\u2064 they\u2063 are fragmentary.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Clay Routledge:<\/h3>\n<p><b>I agree. That is actually why I started looking at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/texas-school-district-shames-white-students-as-part-of-cultural-competence-parents-enraged\/\" title=\"Texas School District Shames White Students As Part Of \u2018Cultural Competence,\u2019 Parents Enraged\">individual difference<\/a> level \u200cof\u200b analysis, not \u200bbecause I was particularly interested in thinking about spirituality\u2063 or religion \u2014\u00a0or\u200b any of these things as an individual difference. \u2064People did\u200b this when they talked about the need to belong. You can pretty much get everyone \u2064to agree that humans are social and have a fundamental need to belong; that\u2019s \u200dnot \u200ccontroversial. \u2062So you can use that\u2062 as an example. Researchers said if \u200bthat\u2019s true, then\u200d you would expect there to be natural variability. Everyone might have \u200bsome basic need\u2062 to belong, but there are going to be some people that\u200b are very, very\u200d oriented towards belongingness, whereas\u200c others\u200d aren\u2019t going to be so much. That individual difference isn\u2019t a case\u200b against the \u200cbasic\u2064 need. It\u2019s\u2063 saying\u2063 that the basic need manifests differently across the continuum. And \u2064so\u200d that\u2019s pretty \u200bmuch my argument, I \u2063think,\u2064 for religion\u2062 and spirituality. What you \u200djust said,\u2064 I think\u200b it\u2019s \u2062true. If\u200b a society abandons religion, they don\u2019t \u2062really become\u2062 secular; they start investing in \u200ball sorts of other things \u2014 what we might call a substitution\u2062 hypothesis \u2014 to \u2064fill that space of the multiple \u2063roles that religion was playing in their society. An\u200c important question, you know, which we talked about a little\u200d bit,\u200d is, just because people are turning to different things to\u2062 fulfill \u2063that function,\u200b doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re actually doing a good \u2064job of fulfilling it.\u2062 Just because\u2062 people are turning to \u200bpolitics as a substitute \u200breligion or UFOs or New \u200dAge beliefs,\u2063 doesn\u2019t mean those things are actually doing a good job of providing meaning.<\/b><\/p>\n<h3>Jordan B. Peterson:<\/h3>\n<p><b>So let\u2062 me ask\u2064 you this then. We have\u200d kind \u200dof come together on\u200d a hypothesis that there is \u2063some need for union around a centralizing \u2064tendency. And that kind of throws \u200bus \u200bback to the beginning of\u200b the discussion because Becker \u2063would identify \u2064that need for the \u200bcentralizing \u200ctendency as a\u2064 manifestation of the\u2064 denial of death. We have elaborated on \u2062that, criticized it, and \u200dbroadened it. We have to unite in personality to some \u2064degree, so we are ruled by a body\u2064 of\u2064 laws. And it is\u200b interesting that \u2064it is a <i>body<\/i> of laws and the laws are what we act \u200bout. So as long as\u2062 we are law abiding, that makes us\u200b a certain kind of \u2062personality \u2014 \u2064and\u200d I would say\u200b a more conscientious personality,\u200b probably \u2062a more agreeable, emotionally stable\u200c personality than\u2062 we would otherwise be \u2064alone. Imagine that for us to live in \u2064a group,\u2063 we have to partake in a central personality\u200c and deviate in our individual ways. But partaking of the \u200dcentral personality? Without that,\u200c we get \u2062fragmentation and inability to make peace, inability to\u2063 understand each other, inability\u2063 to cooperate. And that\u2064 is\u200c something like the worship of \u2063a\u200d central spirit, at least as it is acted out.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><em>To hear the rest of the conversation, continue \u2064by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/podcasts\/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast\/s4-e54-death-meaning-and-the-power-of-the-invisible-world-clay-routledge-the-jbp-podcast\">listening<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/episode\/s4-e54-death-meaning-and-the-power-of-the-invisible-world-clay-routledge-the-jbp-podcast\">watching<\/a> this episode\u2063 on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/watch\">DailyWire+<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jordanbpeterson.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dr. Jordan B. Peterson<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  \u200b is a\u200b clinical \u2063psychologist and professor emeritus\u200d at the University of \u2064Toronto. From 1993 \u200cto 1998 he served as assistant\u2064 and \u2064then associate professor of\u200b psychology \u200dat Harvard. He is\u2064 the international \u2063bestselling\u2064 author of Maps of Meaning, 12 Rules For Life, and Beyond Order. You can now<\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/podcasts\/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  listen to<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  \u200cor<\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/watch\/jordan-peterson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  watch<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  his\u200c popular lectures on DailyWire+.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr. Jordan B. Peterson and Clay Routledge discuss religion&#8217;s societal role in this transcript excerpt. For the full podcast, visit DailyWire+. Peterson argues that some scholars oversimplify religion, reducing it to a solitary aspect. (55 words)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1006,"featured_media":2003630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2003629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2003629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1006"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2003629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2003629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2003630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2003629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2003629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2003629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}