What Do You Think Is The Origin of Religion?

1. 69

   CrescentSkiesposted 12 years ago

   What Do You Think Is The Origin of Religion?
   
   We all know that Christianity stems from Judaism but it ponders the question where do other religions originate from? Do all religions have a common source? If archaeologists discovered what they would call the first religion would you convert to it? If not, why?

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2. 59

   MickSposted 12 years ago

   The common sauce for all religions is a realisation by a group of control freaks, that the only way they are going to get power and control over others, even to some extent over those who rule, is by explointing their insecurites

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   1. 59

      MickSposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Ha, what a divot I am, my wife was nagging me for a shopping list while I answered this, I said brown sauce, and I obviously wrote sauce instead of source.

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   2. 0

      Old Empresarioposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I thought you were just writing "source" in your accent.

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3. 0

   Old Empresarioposted 12 years ago

   It was probably started by a dwarf/"little person" or someone with a deformity or disability who could exercise his mind to come up with the notion that there were gods and that only he spoke to them. It was his means toward achieving self-preservation, power, and reverence in an ancient hunter-gatherer society where he could not contribute in any other way.

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4. 64

   Sapperposted 12 years ago

   All religions originate from the same place, ignorance. When the sun disappears and you don't know why, the simple answer is god(s) did it. When you mix that ignorance with general stupidity and dumb-luck, it makes it easier to spread to others. As in, you kill a goat, it rains, therefore "god" likes it when you kill goats and will make it rain when you do. Once you get them hooked, you throw in some fear, mixed with tradition, and a religion is born.

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5. 84

   M. T. Dremerposted 12 years ago

   Really, all it takes is one unexplained event to create a religion. A solar eclipse; a storm; or an earth quake. Then things like dreams and hallucinations only add fuel to the fire, leading to one person passing their primitive theories down. Once it's old enough, no one can disprove it and faith is installed. Richard Dawkins theorized that religion isn't an inevitable human trait, but is, rather, a misfiring of our brains like a moth flying into a fire. The moth doesn't want to die; it's just following its survival instincts which usually work. Some part of our instinct leads us into the religious fire. He suggested it might be our acceptance of seemingly outlandish information from our elders, in order to keep us safe, but admitted that there may be many other theories out there. He explains it a heck of a lot better than I can, but I think the roots of why humans gravitate towards religion is a fascinating field in need of more study.

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