Atruthseeker
Active Member
I was wondering, why hasn't religion gone away by now? Infact, if you are an evolutionist how did it get started? Why do we need it?
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Why hasn't religion gone away?
- Thread starter Atruthseeker
- Start date
Storm
ThrUU the Looking Glass
1) Why would it?
2) The experiences religion is based on still occur.
3) Indoctrination.
The evolution of religion is a fascinating topic, but rather large.
Here are the major puzzle pieces I know of:
1) Mystical experiences.
Whether correctly interpreted or not, trance states happen, and I think they're where we got the idea of God(s) in the first place.
2) The spandrel hypothesis. In a nutshell, this idea explains how the tendency to attribute agency where there is none was selected for.
If correct, the spandrel hypothesis neatly explains the development of theism in the classical sense.
I'm probably forgetting a few, though.
Religion seems to have its roots in at least two sources. One of those sources can be described as "mystical experiences". Another source was admirably discussed by Scott Atran in his work, In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion. The commonality between the two sources for religion is that both seem to be innate, genetically based traits of human nature. And if that's the case, humans are inherently religious to some degree and they will remain inherently religious so long as our species exists.
Read Atrans
It is questionable whether we do need religion. But need is not the same thing as have. We have religion, just like we have an appendix, and regardless of whether we need an appendix (or religion).
freethinker44
Well-Known Member
Evolution isn't progressive. Negative character traits can be passed on easily as long as they don't interfere with procreation.
APW
Member
Religion does not and will not go away because there exists inside each individual normal minded person in this world a divine spark, an actual fragment of God. This Father fragment rests gently above the conscious material mind of the individual, and acts as a spirit guide, not as a ruler.
Our minds can be seen as being divided into 3 parts:
The subconscious
The conscious
The Super-conscious
In all things, the conscious or material mind exerts complete free will. We are free to choose to become more real, I.E. to choose relative truth over relative error, beauty over ugliness, goodness over evil. I define the ultimate reality as being God. God is so much more than our limited animal-evolved minds can comprehend. The entire universe of time and space is only a fraction of what God is. However at our level of spiritual development, God is easiest to define as a Father. As THE Father.
God is the giver of personality. And, however much greater God must be than a personality, he certainly can be nothing less than a personality.
This life is but the vestibule of an eternity of sublime adventure and incomprehensible achievement. Our choices in this life affect our survival into that which lies beyond the portal of natural death. As much as we choose reality, that much will carry over into what lies beyond. As much as we reject reality, that much will not survive. And by "reality" I am not referring to belonging to any named religion. I am referring to our choosing those values, which complement the ultimate reality which is Love, and which is God.
Our minds can be seen as being divided into 3 parts:
The subconscious
The conscious
The Super-conscious
In all things, the conscious or material mind exerts complete free will. We are free to choose to become more real, I.E. to choose relative truth over relative error, beauty over ugliness, goodness over evil. I define the ultimate reality as being God. God is so much more than our limited animal-evolved minds can comprehend. The entire universe of time and space is only a fraction of what God is. However at our level of spiritual development, God is easiest to define as a Father. As THE Father.
God is the giver of personality. And, however much greater God must be than a personality, he certainly can be nothing less than a personality.
This life is but the vestibule of an eternity of sublime adventure and incomprehensible achievement. Our choices in this life affect our survival into that which lies beyond the portal of natural death. As much as we choose reality, that much will carry over into what lies beyond. As much as we reject reality, that much will not survive. And by "reality" I am not referring to belonging to any named religion. I am referring to our choosing those values, which complement the ultimate reality which is Love, and which is God.
It looks like you got there ahead of me. I should have read your post before posting my own.
footprints
Well-Known Member
Why hasn't religion gone away by now?....... Supply and demand.
How did it get started?...... The same way as the evolutionist belief got started.... evidence.
Why do we need it?..... Why do we need anything which doesn't pertain to our immediate survival? Why do we need cars? Why do we need boats and planes? Why do we need sport or libraries? Why do we need radio, television or papers? Why do we need the internet?...... I would suggest like everything we need it because some people like it.
TheKnight
Guardian of Life
A logical evolutionist response would be that it is beneficial for mankind to have moral values. Thus far, mankind has evolved his moral values through religion. As our evolution progresses, religion will not fade away but it will be refined into something more perfected as man himself progresses towards evolutionarily refined morality,
Of course, that is how an evolutionist would see it I would imagine.
Of course, that is how an evolutionist would see it I would imagine.
That happens not to be the case in many cultures. See Jared Diamond, for instance, on the role of religion and moral values in the culture of the New Guinea highlanders. Religion is not necessary to evolve moral values.
TheKnight
Guardian of Life
I didn't say it was necessary. However, typically religion is how man derives his morals. Or rather it is generally how man establishes the moral values that he will adhere to.
That's certainly how I see it.
McBell
mantra-chanting henotheistic snake handler
Because people are intellectually lazy, fear death, cling to the promise of continuing on after they die, deny that which they dislike, fear, do not understand, or goes against they warm fuzzy feelings.
freethinker44
Well-Known Member
For completely different reasons, one of which being a lack of education in most of the world.
John D
Spiritsurfer
The more the fruits of knowledge become accessible to men, the more widespread is the decline of religious belief.
Sigmund Freud
The opposite is actually happening - The more "fruit of the tree of knowledge" we enjoy, the greater the void in the heart of man, and the deeper the search for something to fill it. even science became a religion to some, like Athiesm.
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dogsgod
Well-Known Member
I disagree as regards to the void. The '''fruit of the tree of knowledge' is science, the thirst for this knowledge for some is great, and very rewarding.
I will grant you that is how it might look to a good Westerner whose idea of religion is basically Judism and Christianity with a little Islam thrown in.