Is religion still necessary?

I tend to believe that myths and religion played a crucial role to structure society and preserve social order. They both acted as a form of authority to guide and govern human behavior. Still, they give people a sense of belonging, hope and meaning. But in the face of science, do we still need religion? I say no. Why? The issues humans have been praying for or begging can be solved through proper planning, guided by scientific principles. Humans pray to be cured but in the end, they go to hospitals. Meaning? Evidence-based care is all that is needed to achieve good health outcomes. Others pray for job but end up engaging in corruption to get one. So? We just need to develop our economies to increase job prospects. We must equally strengthen the rule of law. Overall, virtually all humans problems are beyond the scope of religion. Science is not perfect but it so far shown immense capabilities.

And there is still a reason why people dont have the herd mentality.they have differnt careers,phsyique,etc.until science can explain this then idont have any other option rather than to believe in God.for example why would kipchoge be a good marathoner and not his neighbour.before useme genes all cheetahs are fast,lions strong,etc but not the same with humans we are abled differently.if you can pliz explain what brought the difference.
you may argue that human evolved.and according to darwin nature favours the strong.why would the ancestors of chimpanzee choose to remain in the forest,why did our ancestors choose brains rather than raw power,why did the ancestors of zebras,deers,etc choose to be grass eaters,while the lion choose to be strong to eat them,if science can explain this maybe ican truly beleive in it,am an eng na tukiwa university doing my studies icame across reimann hypothesis (1859)which has a 1m dollar bounty if you can derive the formula.(google it).nobody has been able to do it 162 years later and you call us advanced? there is definetly someone who controls us.

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Matt’s mathematical mind mash
Win a million dollars with maths, No. 1: The Riemann Hypothesis
In the first of his series on the seven Millennium Prize Problems – the most intractable problems in mathematics – Matt Parker introduces the Riemann Hypothesis
Matt Parker
Wed 3 Nov 2010 08.01 EDT
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The first million-dollar maths puzzle is called the Riemann Hypothesis. First proposed by Bernhard Riemann in 1859 it offers valuable insights into prime numbers but it is based on an unexplored mathematical landscape. If you can show that its mathematical path will always lie true, $1m (£600,000) is all yours.

Mathematicians are obsessed with primes because they are the foundation of all other numbers. Prime numbers in mathematics are like atoms in chemistry, bricks in the construction industry and ludicrous pay cheques in professional football. Everything is built up from these fundamental units and you can investigate the integrity of something by taking a close look at the units from which it is made. To investigate how a number behaves you look at its prime factors, for example 63 is 3 x 3 x 7. Primes do not have factors: they are as simple as numbers get.

They are simple in this one respect – but are otherwise extremely enigmatic and slip away just when you think you have a grip on them. Part of the problem is that, by definition, they have no factors, which is normally the first foothold in investigating a number problem. This is also the key to their usefulness. It is their difficulty to grasp that makes primes the basis for our modern information security. Whenever you use a cash machine or visit a secure website, it is huge prime numbers that encrypt your information and make it extremely difficult for anyone else to pry it back out of the electronic cipher.

Prime numbers also have the annoying habit of not following any pattern. 3,137 is a prime and the next one after that is not until 3,163, but then 3,167 and 3,169 suddenly appear in quick succession, followed by another gap until 3,187. If you find one prime number, there is no way to tell where the next one is without checking all the numbers as you go. One possible way to get a handle on how primes are spaced is to calculate, for any number, how many primes there are smaller than it. This is exactly what Riemann did in 1859: he found a formula that would calculate how many primes there are below any given threshold.

Zeta function equation
Zeta function equation Photograph: Guardian
Riemann’s formula is based on what are called the “Zeta Function zeroes”. The Zeta Function is a function that starts with any two coordinates and performs a set calculation on them to return a value. If you imagine the two initial coordinates to be values for latitude and longitude, for example, then the Zeta Function returns the altitude for every point, forming a kind of mathematical landscape full of hills and valleys. Riemann was exploring this landscape when he noticed that all of the locations that have zero altitude (points at “sea level” in our example) lie along an straight line with a “longitude” of 0.5 – which was completely unexpected. It’s as if all the places in England that are at sea level (ignoring the coast) are on a dead straight line that runs directly north along the 0.5 longitude line.

Riemann used these zeroes as part of his prime distribution formula, but the problem is that no one knows for sure that all of the zeroes are on that same straight line. Sure, mathematicians have checked that the first ten trillion zeroes all fall on that line, but that’s no guarantee that the ten trillionth and one zero might be somewhere else, throwing the whole prime distribution formula out the proverbial window, along with vast amounts of related number theory. Which is why there is a $1m prize for anyone who can show that all of the Zeta Function zeroes line up on the “0.5 line” without resorting to the impossible task of walking along this infinite line to check.

I’ve given you the Zeta Function to get you started and if you dust off a bit of “complex variable” maths, you will be well on your way to exploring the Riemann landscape. However – if that’s a bit much – here is an easier starting problem: All prime numbers (greater than five) squared are one more than a multiple of 24. Check it for a few – it works. You can even prove that it works for all of the infinite number of primes.

Now if you can just do that for the Zeta zeroes, you can stop kicking a football around in the cold in hope of a big pay day.

Matt Parker is based in the mathematics department at Queen Mary, University of London, and can be found online at www.standupmaths.com His favourite prime is 31

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Religion is like an appendix. We needed it in the past to create societies. But sikuizi its not necessary

Religion is not necessary but God is everlasting and unremovable from our lives

You seem to be a good reader. I will refer you to “The selfish Gene” by Richard Dawkins. It will answer these and other fundamental questions

okay let google it

You said it. It gives people hope.

The idea was this: genes strive for immortality, and individuals, families, and species are merely vehicles in that quest. The behaviour of all living things is in service of their genes hence, metaphorically, they are selfish
But in fact, Dawkins said, it was the gene itself that was trying to survive, and it just so happened that the best way for it to survive was in concert with other genes in the impermanent husk of an individual
Suddenly it made sense that, with the gene itself steering evolution, the fact that the drone shared its DNA with the queen meant that its servitude guarantees not the individual’s survival, but the endurance of the genes they share.
why would a gene of the said drone feel this threatened to sacrifice its individual survival of the genes to benefit the society they live in and the genes they share and in a colony there are more than 50000 bees?why would say a giraffe run and leave its young being eaten by alion instead of sacrificing itself since its old for the continuation of the said gene.

Unasema???

So you are using science to justify religion?

[quote=“Teddy_time, post:11, topic:268180”]

So you are using science to justify religion?
[/QUOTE
do you see any practical explanation using darwins theory why the species choose different adaptation methods and hence they live in the same enviroment?[/QUOTE]

Brathe… kwanza soma vile kuquote.

Secondly, science is a progressive process. Why one species took a different path compared to another is something that may not have been nailed down yet but it will

Religion just tells u to believe and have faith.

Also, i find it interesting that you use evolution to justify religion which does not even believe in it! According to the bible, we are children of Adam and Eve and God made the earth in 7 days. So why are you talking of genes and Darwin??

And btw, which religion is real? There are atleast a couple of hundred on this planet

idont use evolution to justify religion rather i use religion to justify evolution theory.what am saying is without proper analysis of why the said species took a different path,then that darwin theory have some gaps.and the only logical explanation for now is God.but am ready to beleive otherwise if someone comes with a concrete evidence it was not controlled evolution.why would i become a cow to risk it all instead of adapting to become a tick just to be a parasite and survive without any effort. science go hand in hand with religion thats why nobody can explain how ancient "primitive egyptians"moved those blocks to build pyramids,how they alingned pyramids to certain stars etc in the yaer 2021.if science was progressive vyenye unasema,then reimann hypothesis,how they build pyramids and generated electricity from them etc hazingekuwa issue by now.thats why am saying you cant overule extraterrestrial activity.pia scientists themselves wameconfirm kuona aliens(extraterrestrial)

Does address some of the questions you had earlier put across?

no coz istill cant figure out from his argument why a lion ancestor decided to be alion,and a tick too be a tick

You only skimmed through. You never understood any. Take some time on it and check a few books on evolution.

okay iwill.

i think we need religion now more than ever to give humans hope.
the economy and laws won’t be strengthened, so at some point, we shall have civil unrest since there is no hope.
those who control the laws are tearing the world in the middle. we have the LGBTQ+, women, and minority group empowerment. after they are done with those, what will they support, and which laws/rules/regulations will be changed to suit them.

they still control the economies and from where i sit, they are making more money as the years pass by, and at no point will they empower us unless they are gaining.

but where religion gave hope through prayer, science is doing the same but through the narrative of WORKIN HARD.

but if the conspiracies of the “New World Oder” are true, the whole world will be united and the economies and laws will be strengthened to favor all.

sadly, before we get there, hundreds/thousands/millions/billions shall be killed to achieve that. just like Religion did
guess the more things change/the more we get smarter, the more things remain the same

Your analysis is on point, unfortunately viewing religion rationally is a preserve of the most intelligent people in the society not ordinary laypersons. It is pointless to discuss religion with individuals like @ChifuMbitika who have an iron curtain on matters of god. If prayers and faith ever work, then we would have a single case of genetic disorders such as down syndrome being cured through this route.