Is there a rational justification for any religious belief? If so, what is it?

There may be a rational justification for religious belief in terms of the need of many people to feel part of a herd and to comply with the collective conditioning of that herd. You can see the same phenomenon at a football match. It takes a brave person to step outside of the herd. That doesn't make the belief itself rational.

Religions were all invented by mankind. Stories were made up to explain the unexplainable to uneducated people. Rules were made up to force compliance with the norms of that religion. Gods were invented as creators and watchers. Hell was invented as a punishment. You could argue there was a rational reason to invent religion as a means of social control but that still doesn't make the religious beliefs rational.

Some will argue that morality is rational, and I'd agree with that. On the other hand, morality is a social construct and owes nothing to religion.

Is there evidence for gods? By all objective measures, no. That immediately undermines the rational basis for all theistic religions. They have no truly rational basis. They are the concoctions of humans. They are make-believe.

Religion is a commodity. You can read about the religion market which comprises of loads.

God exists.

While belief in God is ultimately a matter of faith, Science and logic can prove the existence of God beyond a reasonable doubt.

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++ First Cause ++

Newton's Third Law of Motion states "For every action there is equal and opposite reaction." Every action in the universe was caused by a prior equal and opposite reaction.

If we logically follow each and every action and reaction back to the beginning then logically there has to be a first action without a prior equal and opposite reaction. Modern astrophysicists call this event the Big Bang.

This first action was completely independent of outside forces. This action was the un-caused cause creating the universe, a trans-physical being most call God. This proof also fulfills the principle of Occam's Razor.

By the way, it was Georges Lemaître (1894–1966), a Belgian Catholic priest and professor of physics and astronomy, who proposed what became known as the Big Bang theory of the origin of the Universe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Lema%C3%AEtre

++ Fine Tuning of the Universe ++

A universe in which life has a chance to exist can only happen in where a couple of dozen universal constants coincide, including:

+ Boltzmann's Constant

+ Cosmic Proton/Photon Ratio

+ Cosmological Constant

+ Electromagnetic Fine-Structure Constant

+ Electron or Proton Unit Charge

+ Gravitational Attraction Constant

+ Gravitational Fine-Structure Constant

+ Hubble Constant

+ Maximum velocity

+ Minimum interval of space

+ Minimum Mass of the Universe

+ Minimum unit of time

+ Permittivity of Free Space

+ Planck's Constant

+ Rest Mass of an Electron

+ Rest Mass of a Proton

+ Strong Nuclear Force Coupling Constant

+ Total Visible Rest Mass

+ Weak Fine-Structure Constant

+ Weak Force Coupling Constant

A couple of percent difference in any one of these constants would make the universe completely uninhabitable. Roger Penrose, a peer of Hawking, calculated that the chance of a universe capable of supporting life as we know it as one part in 10 raised to the power of 10 raised to the power of 123 (this means this fine tuning was mathematically impossible to have happened all by itself).

This fine tuning of the universe, while not an absolute proof of God, can be used to help prove the existence of God beyond a reasonable doubt (which is my claim).

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For credible scientific and factually reliable evidence for the existence of God see the Magi's God Wiki: "Why Believe in God?" http://magisgodwiki.org/index.php/Why_Believe_in_G...

I also suggest you read Robert Spitzer's book "New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy"

With love in Christ.

There is nothing rational about religion.

Is there a rational justification for rationality?

Could it be that humans were created in God's image as the Bible tells us? Genesis 1:26 Could it be that from the beginning we were told that obedience to our maker means our life? Genesis 2:15-17 Could it be that when the first man and woman rebelled that we have to fight to keep our integrity to God? Genesis 3:6-12 Could it be that Christians actually believe Jesus Christ was a real person and that he was sent by God as a ransom? John 3:16 Could it be that God gives us the courage to stand up for what is good and right as did Noah and his family? Genesis 6:5-22 Yes, the deluge was real and the vessel for survival was huge, yet no other humans entered it to be saved from drowning in the flood. Why would only eight people (Noah, his wife, their 3 sons and their wives) entered the ark for their survival? Believe it or not, the Bible is our original history book. There are historical facts about our ancestry and of all the world powers we've seen come and go. If you would like to learn more about why the Bible is such an important part of people's lives, I would like you to go to the international website, jw.org and Bible Teachings > Bible Questions Answered. See About Us > Activities and About Us > Conventions. If you like what you learn, you can request your FREE personal Bible study online. Thank you for this question.

Sure. The odds of an organized universe forming from nothing and for no reason is 1:100,000,000,000 raised to the 123rd power. That should be rational enough to make you think, "Hmmmmm?"

Also read Thomas Aquinas' and Duns Scotus' logical reasons for the existence of God. People tell you they have been disproved, but, funnily enough, they can never tell you just how they have been disproved. If you can't explain it, you don't know it.

If it is a belief, as opposed to a theory, then there is no rational justification. Faith, belief, hope - these are the antithesis of rationality.

That doesn't mean religion is worthless, it just means a leap of faith is required, not a calculated decision.

Religions are not rational.

However people who manage to believe in ancient superstitions can make themselves believe there is such a thing as life after death .

It makes them feel good to imagine their dead loved ones are up in " heaven " waiting for them. It's not rational but religious people are able to believe it IS rational.

I believe that the religion of Christianity might just be God's biggest enemy.

Let me attempt to justify that belief.

Jesus' first miracle was water to wine. The stone jars held about 600 gallons of water used for ceremonial hand washing (like a mini baptism). He DESECRATED those religious vessels at the wedding with the happy juice.

The message was 'Give up your religiousity and come, have a drink with Me.'

Jesus came to shut down the religion that God Himself had set up. Why? Because religion (rules and rituals) doesn't work for the same reason traffic laws can't change the heart of a driver.

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

That exclusive statement by Jesus rules out all man made efforts to get to God, and therefore ultimately heaven.

The way is a person, not a religion.

The religion of Christianity is therefore a lie from the one who fathers every lie.

Those who killed Jesus thought they were doing God's work too.

Religion is a lot of things.

Rational is not one of them.