Civilizations and religion

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Sun, 02/05/2017 - 10:37

Rinchen Lama

Civilizations and religion

Why do almost every civilization in the world have or had a religion?

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Sun, 02/05/2017 - 10:42

Alembé

Well, civilizations are full

Well, civilizations are full of people, and, as of this moment in time, the majority of people have yet to outgrow religion.

Sun, 02/05/2017 - 10:51

mykcob4

That is a psychological

That is a psychological anthropological question that will be debated until humans can understand every aspect of the brain....developed or undeveloped.

Sun, 02/05/2017 - 11:20

algebe

@Richen Lama: "Why do almost

@Richen Lama: "Why do almost every civilization in the world have or had a religion?"

Ask Napoleon:
"Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet."
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."

You can't run an empire without some form of thought control. Religion is perfect for that.

Sun, 02/05/2017 - 11:52

CyberLN

Humans tend to want answers.

Humans tend to want answers. Where actual data don't provide them, answers are frequently made up.

Sun, 02/05/2017 - 12:49

Pitar

Man needs his elixir?

Religion has been part of man's psychological fabric from the beginning. No matter from where he hails on earth, he follows some form of supernatural mumbo-jumbo he contrived from a mixture of thin air and ignorance. Later on the ignorance he started with was replaced by stupidity, which he has kept well stocked up on since. When ignorance was replaced by stupidity, the new ingredient rendered all forms of religion as the resident evil he pretenses to make right. This is an easy dodge because he has at his ready all manner of atheism to excuse himself with.

If reality must be cheated, religion is the means, and man has never honestly addressed reality.

Sat, 02/25/2017 - 10:18

(Reply to #6) #7

Truett

Pitar makes the great point

Pitar makes the great point that "man has never honestly addressed reality." Too right. The few exceptions, like Aristarchus' heliocentrism model in 250 BC or Socrates' admonition to rely on reason, were either killed or ostracized. Copernicus and Galileo did mammoth work by helping usher in the Enlightenment, and we have benefited from a real degree of improvement. But it persists. Consider the popularity comparison of Billy Graham and Carl Sagan in the late 20th century in America. Forget the numbers, just consider that they are comparable at all. One was advocating a bronze age myth and one was describing the wonder and promise of reality, yet much of the US was absolutely smitten with the evangelist and contemptuous of the scientist.

Sun, 02/05/2017 - 14:31

ImFree

Religion is a means to

Religion is a means to furnish answers for the unknown and use the supposed knowledge as power over others. For example, a self-proclaimed prophet or a ruler claiming divine will. Joseph Smith is a good example of a self-proclaimed prophet that would have messages from god proclaiming who he could have sex with(young girls like muhammad) among other things. Also, religion is a very handy way to persuade others to fight for your cause and steal property.

Fri, 02/24/2017 - 21:40

Sky Pilot

People love religions for a

People love religions for a number of reasons.

1. Their lives suck and they are stuck in misery.

2. They fear death.

3. They want to live forever but they can't because they know that they will die.

4. A con man tells them that if they follow his line of BS his favorite deity will reward them with eternal life in the happy hunting grounds, Valhalla, heaven, paradise, or reincarnation and won't send them to damnation in eternal fire where they will be tortured by demons.

5. The con man usually converts a woman first and then adds on other features to get the men to join. The women raise their kids in the belief so they repeat the process throughout the generations.

6. It's a continuous process until stronger outside forces destroy the religion and replace it with theirs.

Fri, 02/24/2017 - 22:11

#10

Dave Matson

Looks like you have received

Looks like you have received some good answers! I hope that your question is not some argument for the validity of religion. That would be so incredibly naive!

Sat, 02/25/2017 - 09:04

#11

Endri Guri

Ever since the dawn of

Ever since the dawn of Civilizations, many people didn't understand the Natural phenomena happening on those days such as - "Why is it raining? Why is the Earth shaking? etc..." - So, to compensate for their lack of knowledge on that occurrence, they came up with Gods. As an example, the Greeks, when there where high waves they would believe that Poseidon was angry, when there was Storms it was said that Hera was mad, or when there was poor Harvest then it was believed that Demeter had cursed the lands, etc.. I suppose you understand where I'm going.

Sat, 02/25/2017 - 09:22

#12

ZeffD

Religion certainly seems to

Religion certainly seems to be a part of human development - a now useless relic.

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