Dennis Prager Show - What Keeps People from being Religious?
Aired: 2021-05-19
Duration: 09:36


=== Decay Of Secular Society (03:00) ===

[00:00:00]  Ultimately, the whole thing is about your outlook on life.
[00:00:08]  All the tension in America is based on that.
[00:00:12]  Do you see people in terms of race, in terms of character?
[00:00:17]  These are all ultimate issues.
[00:00:20]  Everything comes down to that.
[00:00:24]  And so, we established this hour, I don't know how many years ago.
[00:00:29]  About 12 years ago, more.
[00:00:33]  And today's topic is about one of my favorite subjects, perhaps my favorite religion.
[00:00:45]  I hope you realize the decay that secular society inevitably ends up as.
[00:00:54]  It just does.
[00:00:56]  Not every secular person has rotten values.
[00:01:06]  Not every religious person has great values.
[00:01:09]  But we're talking about society, not every individual.
[00:01:13]  If you talk about every individual, you can say nothing.
[00:01:17]  You can't generalize at all, and then you have no wisdom.
[00:01:21]  Wisdom rests on generalizations, on correct generalizations, however.
[00:01:26]  All whites are racist is a generalization, but it's a lie.
[00:01:31]  So, that's what matters.
[00:01:33]  Correct generalization.
[00:01:36]  Anyway, given the staggering significance of religion, or as I have put it for years in speeches around the world, when Christianity died in Europe, we got fascism, communism, and Nazism.
[00:01:56]  When it dies in America, what will we get?
[00:01:59]  And I'm a Jew asking this.
[00:02:05]  Well, we got last year almost a year of riots, of destruction, of mayhem.
[00:02:16]  That's one of the things we got.
[00:02:19]  What you really get is the left.
[00:02:23]  But that's not my subject.
[00:02:25]  My subject is religion, but it's not that.
[00:02:28]  My subject is you.
[00:02:31]  Today, what stops you, what prevents you from being religious?
[00:02:39]  Notice I didn't say spiritual, a word for which I have no use.
[00:02:45]  I don't even understand the word.

=== Why Belief Matters Less (06:50) ===

[00:02:47]  It means nothing to me.
[00:02:49]  When I hear someone say it, and very nice people say this, it's not an attack on people saying it.
[00:02:55]  By the way, the phone number is 1-8 Prager 776. From being religious.
[00:03:01]  Or for that matter, prevents your son or daughter.
[00:03:05]  If you have an answer to that one.
[00:03:07]  It's very important for me to confront that question.
[00:03:20]  Thank you.
[00:03:22]  Because I would like you to be religious.
[00:03:26]  Spiritual to me.
[00:03:30]  I'm not religious, but I have some sense.
[00:03:36]  I have a strong sense of the spiritual.
[00:03:39]  But what does that mean?
[00:03:42]  I'm not being cute.
[00:03:43]  I don't even understand what that means.
[00:03:47]  You're not Christian.
[00:03:49]  You're not Jewish.
[00:03:51]  I'm talking about the Western world now.
[00:03:54]  But you're spiritual.
[00:03:58]  Anyway, I don't know what it means.
[00:04:00]  Nice people say it.
[00:04:02]  My issue is not whether you're nice, it's whether society can survive.
[00:04:06]  So I'm not asking what prevents you from being spiritual.
[00:04:12]  I'm not even asking what prevents you from believing in God.
[00:04:17]  You can believe in God and not be religious.
[00:04:21]  Religious means active in a religion.
[00:04:25]  For the first time in American history, fewer than 50% of Americans are religious.
[00:04:33]  Or go to church or synagogue on a weekly basis, whatever criterion you wish to choose.
[00:04:41]  That's a significant demarcation in American history.
[00:04:54]  One possible answer is, I don't believe in God, why would I be religious?
[00:04:59]  I actually have an answer to that.
[00:05:02]  Whether you believe in God or not, I think you should be religious.
[00:05:08]  This goes so contrary to what most people think.
[00:05:13]  Frankly, I'm more interested that you be religious than that you believe in God.
[00:05:18]  I believe in God very strongly.
[00:05:22]  But for your sake and the sake of society, I'd rather you be actively religious.
[00:05:30]  You need a religious community like you need a good diet and exercise.
[00:05:39]  Every single study I have seen, and remember my view of studies is either they confirm the obvious or they're wrong.
[00:05:48]  Every single study.
[00:05:50]  Has affirmed the obvious.
[00:05:52]  People with a religious community live longer and more healthfully.
[00:05:59]  I know that.
[00:06:03]  I flew from Hawaii on Saturday night.
[00:06:10]  I hate red eyes.
[00:06:11]  And I flew a red eye so that I would be back on Sunday because Sunday night was a Jewish religious holiday, Shavuot or Pentecost.
[00:06:20]  And I wanted to be with my religious community that night.
[00:06:27]  So I just made sure I would get home in time.
[00:06:32]  And I did it for selfish reasons.
[00:06:36]  Partially altruistic, because people like when I'm with them.
[00:06:40]  I grant that.
[00:06:42]  But it's mostly selfish.
[00:06:44]  I need it.
[00:06:45]  I need it every Friday night.
[00:06:47]  I need it every Saturday.
[00:06:49]  And I get it.
[00:06:52]  So, my question is not what prevents you from believing in God, it's what prevents you from being religious.
[00:07:00]  So I have an answer to you if your answer is, because, well, Dennis, I can't believe in God, so why am I going to be religious?
[00:07:11]  I don't know, it's like saying to me, I can't read music, why listen to Beethoven?
[00:07:16]  You'd have to read music to love Beethoven.
[00:07:22]  The benefits of great music are there.
[00:07:25]  If you don't know an F-sharp from a C, it's irrelevant.
[00:07:33]  Yes, you can get more out of it if you read music, obviously.
[00:07:39]  But it's a misconception.
[00:07:46]  And anyway, if you do get religious...
[00:07:50]  You might well end up believing in God.
[00:07:54]  You find a church or synagogue that elevates you, and one criterion is that they don't talk about politics.
[00:08:04]  They talk about elevating.
[00:08:09]  That may very well have an effect on your belief in God.
[00:08:14]  I'm a behaviorist.
[00:08:20]  You know, act happy, you'll be happier.
[00:08:23]  Act religious, you'll be a bigger believer.
[00:08:29]  Acting is everything.
[00:08:31]  I don't mean acting as in phony.
[00:08:34]  And it's not phony to be religious if you have an issue with whether God exists.
[00:08:39]  Why is that?
[00:08:40]  One can have a lot to do with the other or may not.
[00:08:47]  Another one I get is that people have bad experiences in their religion.
[00:08:53]  Okay, so I want you to know something, my friends.
[00:08:56]  Who hasn't?
[00:09:00]  Who has not had bad experiences within their religion?
[00:09:07]  Hey, I'm curious.
[00:09:08]  Do you have any bad experiences in your secular life?
[00:09:11]  Why does that prevent you from being secular?
[00:09:15]  Bad experiences in religious life.
[00:09:17]  Oh, my nun wrapped my knuckles.
[00:09:21]  Why would I continue in the Catholic Church?
[00:09:25]  The rabbi, I don't know, my rabbi had an affair.
[00:09:30]  Oh, okay, now I get it.
[00:09:34]  That's just, that's just silly.