“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.”
~ Seneca
Another version: "Religion was regarded by the common people as true, by the skeptical philosophers as false, and by the politicians as useful." I see no reason why this statement cannot be true and yet not used in a cynical way but as a way to see religion through a pragmatic lens as useful for herding the average person into a civilized mindset. For without Organized Religion where people gather to suspend their disbelief and skepticism to believe in a Higher Power and that life has ultimate meaning, Many people can (and do as we see today) lose a sense of meaning in life and dwindle into atheistic nihilism.
In other words, why not chart a third alternative as Stephan Covey puts it and see religion as not literally or factually true in all cases, but pragmatically beneficial as dramatic ritual and artistic metaphor, as a love poem to reality, giving your life meaning and vitality. So what the LDS Church does when it's at it's best is imbue a sense of meaning and belonging in the individual by giving him Divine Parents who love him as a soul. Instead of falling victim to far-Leftism and atheistic nihilism diminishing his overall self-esteem as a cosmic orphan, the LDS community can bolster his belief system by being surrounded by like-minded individuals who share a higher ethical standard based on a theological worldview?
After all, if you stick to nihilism as true and there is no meaning, no purpose, no soul, no right or wrong, then there is no reason not to use religion for your individual purposes. Martin Luther King Jr. did just that, he was a personally flawed man and personally did not believe in a lot of Christianity literally, but interpreted it more mythologically; yet this did not stop him from using religion and the metaphor of the Jews escaping slavery under Egyptian rule, in order to imbue African-Americans with inspiration for overcoming the oppression of that time; and thus spearheading a movement by giving it an artistic drama enforcing the Civil Rights Movement. Who can deny that his oratory skills and theological innovations buoyed up the Civil Rights Movement and made it as successful as it did. Who can deny the artistic power of his "I Have a Dream" speech which uses many biblical metaphors? In other words, why let all the Fundamentalist have all the fun? Why not use religion yourself for your own benefit, the benefits of your friends and family and loved ones? Why succumb to the depressive philosophy of nihilism anyway? Who's going to judge you if you do entertain the religious worldview? Who's going to say you were stupid or silly if you're soon going to die and become worm food and you don't exist as a soul and nothing matters a thousand years from now from the atheists' point of view?
