SLD
Contributor
Why is there religion in this world to begin with? What was the point of setting it up to begin with? And does it just persist because it has been with us so long? Sort of a QWERTY problem?
I tend to view human behavior in terms of evolution. Maybe religion is an offspring of our collective and cooperative nature. It I think it originally sprung out of a scientific need to explain the world. Create a superhuman being who did all of this. But I also think that it became a structured organized thing due to the need for elites to control the masses. Napoleon observed that the purpose of religion is to prevent the poor from killing the rich. Marx said it was the opiate of the masses. It’s also about patriarchy. Virtually all organized religions establish a patriarchy. Naturally, females choose their mates. Males want to mate with whomever and as often as they can. But a patriarchy allows men to control reproductive choice of women. Thus religion.
But why in a scientific society, that values (for the most part) equality before the law and human freedoms, does religion persist? Let’s face it, there is no logical reason to believe in the myths of organized religion. At a fundamental level, they’re all bullshit. Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, Mohammed wasn’t a messenger from god, and the Buddha was just a man (if at all). But these crazy beliefs persist even by logical and otherwise rationale people. Why?
I think it exists only by convention. People continue to believe because everyone else does. Their parents did. Their more concerned with other things than figuring out their faith. So they continue to go with the flow. And if you challenge those beliefs you are upsetting the natural order of things.
other thoughts?
I tend to view human behavior in terms of evolution. Maybe religion is an offspring of our collective and cooperative nature. It I think it originally sprung out of a scientific need to explain the world. Create a superhuman being who did all of this. But I also think that it became a structured organized thing due to the need for elites to control the masses. Napoleon observed that the purpose of religion is to prevent the poor from killing the rich. Marx said it was the opiate of the masses. It’s also about patriarchy. Virtually all organized religions establish a patriarchy. Naturally, females choose their mates. Males want to mate with whomever and as often as they can. But a patriarchy allows men to control reproductive choice of women. Thus religion.
But why in a scientific society, that values (for the most part) equality before the law and human freedoms, does religion persist? Let’s face it, there is no logical reason to believe in the myths of organized religion. At a fundamental level, they’re all bullshit. Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, Mohammed wasn’t a messenger from god, and the Buddha was just a man (if at all). But these crazy beliefs persist even by logical and otherwise rationale people. Why?
I think it exists only by convention. People continue to believe because everyone else does. Their parents did. Their more concerned with other things than figuring out their faith. So they continue to go with the flow. And if you challenge those beliefs you are upsetting the natural order of things.
other thoughts?