Conception of the Religious, Proper Attitude Toward it, and its Relation to Suffering

COMPARISON OF VARIOUS ATTITUDES TOWARDS RELIGION
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Comparison of various Attitudes towards Religion
In the comparative analysis conducted on the four manuscripts provided for this study, I have discovered diverse perceptions of society as depicted differently by each author.
Each narration is unique but their similarity is also baffling in the sense that they all speak to the inquisitions of aspects of academia and philosophy and the urge to delve into viewpoints held by the narrators as well as the intended audience. These readings have given me intuitive and perceptive thoughts on religion and philosophy on the presuppositions of the existential dimension, faith, the finite ideologies, while literary enlightenment on the rationale for conventionalism versus modernism has been exposed.
Hume’s perspective
During the time of Hume, the ancient Greeks are the perceived enemies of religion. They hold the opinion that the organization of the universe is a natural phenomenon whose processes occur by necessity and further delve into the character of God and asserts that His element is in harmony with nature and is neutral on matters to do with human affairs. Their questioning of the character of God could only be comparable to atheists because God draws religious reverence and adoration.
Atheists’ belief in religion is a tool for obtaining answers to their philosophies and to preserve factional tolerance. It also embraces natural religion for the purposes of morality. This is demonstrable by free thinking philosophers like Francis Hutcheson and Shaftesbury, who believe in the divine rewards and punishment in the afterlife as being morally preferable to atheism because it emboldens moral virtues in the presence of vice.
To most of Hume’s contemporaries, his criticism of natural religion is considered unacceptable to both religion and morality. This is the reason his dialogues were not published until three years after his death as he was discouraged by his friends for fear of reprisals against him. His critics argue that his viewpoint as laid out in the, Treatise of Human Nature, Enquiry concerning Human Understanding and Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals undermines morality and religion. Consequently, he was disregarded during academic appointments and eventually faces excommunication from the Church of Scotland.
However, he is cautious enough to use dialogue as a motif in order to voice his criticism about natural religion. He also is determined to transform the way skepticism is characterized in modern dialogues regarding religion and emphasizes the need to avoid offensiveness in dialogue writing. He is of the view that communicators should maintain their friendship and mutual respect despite their philosophical differences.
Skepticism is portrayed as prejudicial as it is a suspension of judgment to achieve peace of mind by deferring customary behavior and he uses Bayle as the epitome of skepticism. An amalgamation of both atheism and skepticism becomes Pyrrhonism, a religion whose values are not prioritized and which lacks the ability to transform one into a dependable character. The conversion of Bayle to Catholicism and then la...