The answer on religion giving a false sense of security are yes and no. Both answers and explanations are equally as important. Security is basically a state of mind. You could have the best security system in the world and still not feel secure. You could have the best security system in the world that money can buy and someone will eventually find a way to break through the system. There’s also the reality of a new security system coming out the next year that’s going to be far better. To me that’s the best analogy to use to explain how religion can infact give a false sense of security.
There is nothing wrong with religion at all. My English honors teacher during my senior year of high school explained that religion is the basis of all civilization. So far it’s pretty much held true. She was pretty open to various religions and she happened to be a former Catholic nun. Though none of us dared ask why she left the nunnery. I’m hoping there’s at least one soul that’s either brave, incredibly stupid, or both to step up and ask her. To us, it’s one of the mysteries we’re compelled to find out.
But that’s aside from the point. With religion giving a false sense of security there is a lot of power and money to be gained from it. Take a look at the United States where Christianity is the biggest faith domination present. We have the Catholics, Protestants, Judaists, Mormons, Methodists, etc. The biggest congregations are the Evangelical Christians led by people such as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. They’re claiming God told them this and told them that. Pat Robertson was claiming that God gave Ariel Sharon this illness, that God created Hurricane Katrina, etc. He’s gained a lot of followers along with a substantial sum of money.
Ever since GW came into office, the Evangelicals especially the radicals had gained sizeable power. They were the key factor of GW Bush getting reelected in 2004. The radicals end up forcing their own views and opinions upon others with threats of burning in Hell. That’s more than enough to scare the daylights out of people to convert to their brand of Evangelical Christianity. They’ve banked on getting people to believe that they’re brand of Christianity does in fact give them a sense of security. So far it’s paid off financially and still does though the Evangelicals are splitting apart and losing power.
Religious figures will preach that religion will give you a sense of "security" to get you to join. The more people in the congregation, the more power. Doesn’t matter how advanced or how financially backed you are, you will always need a good amount of followers. People = power. Money = maintaining that power.
So yes, in a sense religion can give a false sense of security if religious figures abuse their power and influence upon the masses.
But at the same time there are logical people that can see through the illusion of religious zealots that give false promises of security. Security is just a state of mind. You’re secure because you feel you’re secure not because someone else tells you that. The same goes for insecurity. Insecurity is also a state of mind. You can be secure about plenty of things and be insecure about other things. The terms of security and insecurity are pretty broad.
I don’t feel that religion gives me a false sense of security. Mainly because I don’t depend on religion to give me any security. What I do depend on religion for is guidance and a set of things to reflect upon. I’m a Buddhist and its teachings took me a long way these last few years. I’m a moderate Buddhist but to me that was just enough to go by.
If you depend on religion to give you security, then yes it’s going to give you a false sense of security. Each religion has a different set of teachings. But they all preach about kindness, respect, and dignity to all other people and living things. It’s the radicals you have to worry about. Each faith has their small groups of radicals whom take the teachings of various faiths way out of context and into the extreme. They’ll be the ones preaching about security and whatnot.
There’s really no concrete answer to this question. It’s like trying to answer if you can prove or disprove whether or not God exists or not. When I worked a summer job at a waiter, this one customer and I had this talk about religion. And this was the same question his professor asked him.
He explained that the professor wrote a word on the board. It’s the one world that it rounds down to: "faith." It solely depends on your faith.