Please, don't bring your religious beliefs into this. I don't want anybody to say "because there's a god", because that'll just trigger a flame war. Just think about this: why does religion exist?
I've always thought it's to provide a sense of control; for example, if your people experience a flood, as an atheist you can do nothing. (Yes, I realise you could use sandbags or whatever, but bear with me.) But with religion, you can pray. Humans, as a rule, hate not having control.
So when somebody says "That flood was because of random, heavy rainfall", you resent it and spend your life worrying about more floods. But when somebody says "That flood was because of heavy rainfall brought about by not sacrificing a goat to the Rain God", then you sacrifice a goat and be done with it.
My opinion is that religion is humanity's first attempt at explaining the unknown. In a way, it is similar to your idea because knowing the "reason" behind an event comes with similar comfort than having "control" over a situation.
An argument I have against your idea of control is that religion just as often tends to trigger fatalism in regard to events; "it is god's will, why do anything against it". And I would argue that praying is not equivalent to taking control.
An argument I have against your idea of control is that religion just as often tends to trigger fatalism in regard to events; "it is god's will, why do anything against it". And I would argue that praying is not equivalent to taking control.
I never said it was. But the thing is, with either of those responses (fatalism or praying), people have the satisfaction of knowing that either they're doing everything they can, or that hey, nothing can be done and nothing should be done. My last post was extremely poorly-worded; what I meant to say was that religion provides comfort in a lack of control.
You make a good point with the "it's god's will" argument; I would say that essentially, when humans are unable to control a situation they frequently look to a supreme being for help. Often, this is praying, but sometimes, as you said, people will just accept it. Either way, though, they come away thinking that the situation is fine.
Religion allows people to validate their own existence; that they have a purpose rather than being an insignificant dot, on an insignificant dot, orbiting an insignificant dot, in a relatively small group of 200 to 400 billion insignificant dots, in an observable universe containing 170 billion such groups.
Religion was an explanation for everyday phenomenon for the ancients. What caused lightning for example? The average geography student can explain it, but to the Greeks it was Zeus, to the Norse, it was Thor, etc etc.
One of the many theories concerning the development and origins of religion stem with a fascination of the dead. Ritual burial, and the accompanying practices invoked an idea of the afterlife, the beginning of life, and ultimately perhaps a greater being in control.
Perhaps another interesting point to bring up for discussion is the development of organized religion.
Some people created a religion because they had supernatural contact(not going into this, don't want to start a war) whether or not they did, they were somehow naturally charismatic and developed a following. Most religions we see today are just the follower's descendants.
I'm a believer. Don't flame or start a war, please.
Nichodemus said it was a way to explain everyday phenomenons, which we now now the real answer to. However, to get to the initial question, 'Why do We Have Religion?' or rather, 'Why do we have still have religion in this day and age?'
I'd like to hear your thoughts. Out of curiosity.
Nerdsoft already mentioned:
I would say that essentially, when humans are unable to control a situation they frequently look to a supreme being for help.
Well, we still have religion because half of someones children would probably follow their parents belief and so on. Mostly because if you grow up with it, it kinda sticks.
Nichodemus said it was a way to explain everyday phenomenons, which we now now the real answer to. However, to get to the initial question, 'Why do We Have Religion?' or rather, 'Why do we have still have religion in this day and age?'
In my opinion there are several reasons for that.
Partly, it is a cultural thing, and it's tradition. Many grow up with it and stick with it.
Secondly, people still look for a sense in their lives, and even though you can perfectly be content with your life on its own, many find it easier to believe in a deity that gives a purported sense to your life.
Third, there are a few nasty things like power (institutions like religions often hoard power and influence and won't let it go) and indoctrination.
what i think religion is not because there us a god its all bexause we are at diffrent places where one is took as many for example god its just due to thinking that theur religion is at top ( what i mean to say?...)....[b]
An interesting topic with a wide-array of open-ended answers. My thoughts, which runs much akin to other theories, was that religion was developed to help us process that which we do not yet understand. Our instinctual ability to observe and attempt to understand patterns had created the thought of a higher power, over time, this belief in a higher power became integrated into our culture, and helped advance humanity as whole. As the pursuit to prove God(s) lead us to significant scientific advancements, we began to doubt the existence of a higher power(s). However over time we began to see as the universe as it is, in the purest form of mathematics. We began to equate the happenings of the universe to equations and physics, and less to a higher power.
"Why do we have Religion today?" Would be the better question, in my opinion. Religion nowadays is more of a cultural experience than a way to explain the unexplained. I still believe in God, but I believe science holds the keys to solving the questions and problems of the world and will advance us better as a race more than Religion will in this day and age.
Why do we have religions? in my opinion, that stems from our very genetics. Already from our early days of being homo sapiens , we are genetically tailored to have a special aspect that sets us apart from animals; spirituality. This was shown by our traditions of burying our dead and give them proper respects. Sure, some highly social and intelligent animals do have some form of "respecting the dead". A noted example of this, elephants do show "grief" when a member of their "ack" dies. But other animals beside humans don't take that conscious effort to the next level; they don't show efforts to create "landmarks" to honor their dead, in other words, a grave or a tomb. This shows one of the fundamental aspects of humanity, we have spiritual aspects that sets us apart from other forms of life known to exist.
This practice of burying their dead, together with our undying curiosity to find an explanation to why the world is as it is, combined to create the first spiritual beliefs. Our ancestors assume the presence of supernatural beings born from their dead ancestors or other living beings use them to explain natural occurrence, weather phenomenon, and their own existence. over time, as our technology rose with our society levels, this beliefs are transformed into tools for justifications of the ruling of kings and queens and bureaucrats and such. when it reaches this step, it becomes the first religions; that is, beliefs that serves as justifications for one's own ruling. Zoroastrianism in the ancient Fertile Crescent states, paganism in ancient Egypt and Greece plus Romans, and the now "modern" religions we call Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and many others served this purpose in their long history of conception to the present date. It is only recently in the last 2 centuries that a concept of governmental being justified by itself exist, which was put out by Karl Marx and friends; whose creation we call "socialism-communism".
So, to put it simply, religions are an unintended by-product of highly organized societies from spiritual beliefs that they already held before they become stage 3 and 4 of society developments ; chiefdoms and states. the same belief stems from our traditions of honoring the dead and burying them, in which that traditions came from our genetics and as a by-product of our evolution into the homo sapiens we are right now ( homo sapiens neandharthalensis and homo sapiens sapiens)
Our instinctual ability to observe and attempt to understand patterns had created the thought of a higher power, over time, this belief in a higher power became integrated into our culture, and helped advance humanity as whole.
I would like to hear more on that. In what way, exactly, do you think that spiritualism/religion helped us advance socially and culturally?
Why do we have religions? in my opinion, that stems from our very genetics. Already from our early days of being homo sapiens , we are genetically tailored to have a special aspect that sets us apart from animals; spirituality.
You should be more careful when claiming that something has a genetic basis. For instance, I would be very surprised if someone one day would actually find a genetic basis for spiritualism. In my opinion, spirituality is in itself a by-product of several neurological phenomena.
There is another recent thread on exactly that:
I would appreciate if we could also discuss some points there, especially the question whether, as some claim, spirituality is adaptive from an evolutionary perspective or not.
Religion is a by-product of a seemingly chaotic life. Some people can't haven't that chaos, they need order in their lives. Religion provides this order. When confronted with a question that couldn't be answered, like where did everything come from, the natural tendency was towards something supernatural, such as the story of Prometheus and Epimetheus. Later, religions evolved to become more complex in some ways, from mere forces of nature to complex beings with a will and a plan. Religion continues to endure through a combination of tradition and the formerly mentioned need for order, which in some ways modern science still fails to provide. For example, where did stuff come from is still a viable question, as the idea of stuff always being there can be hard to grasp, especially with the understanding available to the average citizen.
i agree with 09philj, im also baptist christian but the thing is that it don't see how people would go without religion. we need a point to actually living rather than just trying to further a species
i agree with 09philj, im also baptist christian but the thing is that it don't see how people would go without religion. we need a point to actually living rather than just trying to further a species
1. Please don't revive possible necros.
2. The point of my statement was more of a barbed comment suggesting that the religious can't come to terms with the idea that life may not have a deeper meaning. I'm perfectly happy being a transient nothing in the face of history.
