DISSIDENT AGGRESSOR

Where does the need for religion come from?

From the need to control. Complete and utter control.

MonCapitan2002

If you had said something like this, mrmoderate you may have had a point. Since it wasn't written like this, you sadly have no point. What you call spirituality I call superstition. The only place your god exists is in your mind.

breathilizer

mrmoderate

So, you guys worship only what you believe and totally disregard the thoughts of others? Must be nice to be so perfectly knowing.

MonCapitan2002

Do you not know the definition of athiest? It means we lack a belief in any gods. As such, atheists worship nothing.

Newton Joseph

WHO DISCOVERED MORALITY?
New 10
I have heard "that without God there can be no morality" a zillion times. Where does our morality come from? It comes from the time perhaps 30,000 or 40,000 years ago when hunters and gatherers gave up there nomadic life style to live in permanent dwellings, planted seeds and domesticated animals. In order for them to live peacefully together they thought up the precursor of the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule. You don’t steal my food and I don’t steal your food, you don’t kill me and I will not kill you, you don’t take my mate and I won't takes yours. One does not have to be a genius to figure this out.

His Noodly Appendage

It's terribly, terribly unfashionable, but really, memetics DOES provide a clue as to both the continued existence and indeed the nature of religious beliefs.

First up, though, a quick parallel. Domestic cats never mature psychologically. They retain kittenish behaviour all their lives, and with them their kittenish dependency on their adoptive parents. It's my sneaking suspicion that much the same thing happens with domesticated humans. By taking on the many and varied benefits of society and civilisation, I think most people never become fully adult, and stay in the greenhouse of culture all our lives. Our culture encourages us to remain dependent, and has few niches for those that do not make themselves part of the social structure.

Alas, parents are impermanent, and become increasingly fallible and nondominant as time goes by. Leaders attempt to exploit this need for guidance, but cannot micromanage/supervise to the degree required by the average human psyche.

So we are left alone in the world to fend for ourselves, and deal with the stresses of daily life, while not being sufficiently independent and hardened-off to cope on our own resources. What the majority want is to return to childhood, where there were no responsibilities, where we did not understand the stresses, where all the problems in the world were someone else's

In other words, we want a parent. An uber-daddy who cares about every scraped knee and hurt feeling, who will pat us on the head when we've been good, yell at the other kids when they're being mean to us and even punish us enough to take away our guilt when we've been naughty. We want something to look forward to after all the pain and unhappiness, rather than just an end. We want a reward for all the good things we've done that never helped us directly. We want revenge on our enemies. Most of all, we want to know that bad things happen for a good reason, not just from random upfuckedness. We want someone who knows what's going on, isn't letting things go all to pot, and has EVERYTHING UNDER CONTROL.

That, I think, is fairly representative of the major hopes and fears of most people. And surprise surprise, it's also the exact list of things promised by most religions. in one form or another, accounting for cultural bias. Absolute candy for most people's insecurities.

And really, when you think about it, it's not very surprising. Start out with almost any set of beliefs that come near the concept of a god. You already have a source of explanations for the unknown right there, without even trying. Now start selling those beliefs to people. Embroider them a little to suit the listener and get the message across. You have a bunch of militant, wronged people? You sell them a vengeful god that rewards brave and righteous warriors. You have a bunch of happy-clappy idiots? You sell them a god that loves everyone unconditionally. You have a bunch of mean-spirited resentful miserable bastards who take joy in the suffering of others and saying "I told you so"? Calvinism.

Just infect the population, and let it spread. You don't even have to pick your audience all that well - they'll change it to suit themselves. Whatever people WANT to be true will end up being what they think IS true, in the long run. You don't believe me? How many people believe in a god whose nature they don't approve of? How many people think that hell is a horrible, evil, intolerable concept - but that sinners go there anyway? How many people think that evil sinners should be tortured for eternity for not saying grace - but that jesus loves everyone unconditionaly, and would never really hurt anyone, the bleeding-heart wimpy little pussy? How many Calvinists believe they're not of the Elect?

So beliefs spread through the population - and of course, get the population to help them along:

Thou Shalt Outbreed The Competition.
Thou Shalt Make A Pest Of Thyself On Street Corners And In People's Homes, Trying To Convert Them
Thou Shalt Kill The Competition, And/Or Enslave Their Women To Breed More True Believers
Thou Shalt Not Consider The Competition To Be Human.
Thou Shalt Not Listen To Opposing Viewpoints
Thou Shalt Destroy The Writings Of The Opposition
The Opposition Is Not Just Wrong, It Is EVIL, So Thou Shalt Protect The Innocent At All Costs

It's like Corewars for the human brain

...and the list goes on. Eventually, through intolerance, insecurity, greed, stupidity, apathy and sheer numbers, the religion spreads, in whatever form best suits its surroundings.

What's amazing is that any of us ever get free.

I am Amway of Borg. Resistance is stupid! Assimilation is whatever you want it to be. Just don't read the fine print.

jbc