Why are people addicted to religious rituals?

Question

Do religious leaders find it a way to increase their income from ignorant people?

Answer 1

u r right.  people are spellbound to religious leaders. habits make ur life and people's practice makes them tagged to rituals.

Answer 2

Ahhhh ritual and symbol and rites of passage and all that.

Look, rituals are a way of celebrating shared bonds and experiences, the cement of family, community - culture. Culture being that which we share. Why are birthdays celebrated? Marriages, births, heroes? Successful hunts? Why are futbol games? Why do people memorize and recount their ancestry? Why do people make fun of The King or The Dictator?

Religion at its most basic helps explain the unexplainable.

Answer 3

Most of them, yes!

Answer 4

not all religious leaders are dishonest

and it is not a question of addiction it is a matter of believing that ritual has a function

many rituals has function

sometimes the ignorant people are who do not understand that!!!!

Answer 5

Religious rituals give human beings a connection and security.  When a person feels exhausted of efforts for trying to solve his/her problem they go to religious leaders for guidance for further effort or grace of God.  Yes religious leaders also need money as they thrive on income from devotees though apparently they say they do not need money but it is an open secret tha all religious leaders ( established or in the making) have first class living and not like a pauper so for this living money is required.  But rituals do open a path for progress if performed with faith.  To conclude the answer it is ur thought that matters in life and if u run after these so called enlightened leaders in ur rainy days they make u poorer by telling expensive remedies.  One should sincerely pray to the Almighty or at the most do fasting which will solve their problem and would not make matters worse.  These so called religious leaders would take money but not responsibility if their remedy does not work.  Then they would say it is ur past karma,  Obviously they do not have the remedy.  Only God has the remedy so seek Him directly.

Answer 6

You should watch the video series "The Power of Myth" - interviews with Joseph Campbell.  He does a great job of explaining why ritual is important to man, and how rituals have played a part in human societies since the dawn of man.  

The second part of your question is an assumption that everyone who participates in religion is being taken advantage of.  I'm sorry you feel that way.

Answer 7

i dont get what you mean by addicted no there not addicted to rituals .........they have faith and belief and thats why they do religous rituals ....something that comes from the heart ......

Answer 8

It is one form of telling "Thankyou" to the Gods. One cannot blame people for the addiction, since it is a faith and handed over from generation to generation. Added, it would be very wrong to conclude that the relgious leaders find religious rituals a way to increase their income because not all of them are corrupt. Several religious leaders also do a lot of charity and good deeds with the income they get from people. Like in any profession there are good and bad people. Therefore looking at the bad person's deed one should not blame the profession.

Answer 9

A Picture is worth a Thousand words. Rituals are patterns of behavior that have come to produce certain understandings which words sometimes do not express as easily. A Graduation ceremony is an example.  While the experience of schooling is far different than wearing antiquated clothing and a strange head covering and receiving a piece of paper  the ritual points out what has been accomplished presumably in an educational experience.  Religious rituals can do the same. They point out what is happening to persons participating in the activity.  The separate blessings of the bread and wine in the ritual of Eucharist or Lord's Supper portray the death of Jesus(the separation of His Body & Blood) and the willingness of the participants to undergo the same. The participants are much wiser than you assume. They are allowing their whole person to experience what a verbal presentation could not not do alone. As they say in the commercials "Priceless".

Answer 10

Just as in the insect world, we're a species of a few leaders and many followers.  Some con artists who find they have the proper charisma do indeed play upon the desires of the needy (many coming to actually believe the hype they spread about themselves.)

People naturally want something more out of life, or want to believe they will be rewarded for their efforts while here on earth.  These guys play right to them and suck them dry.

Answer 11

No, they look for support from a higher being which gives them comfort and hope which is something an addict never really gets.  The addict become a slave to the vice, while religious people have free will to worship or not.