In another thread, the following article was mentioned: CNN: Why we love to lose ourselves in religion. (I don't know if the videos are related - videos are too slow anyways.) It is a fluffy piece, with no controversial declarations for or against gods. The writer steers clear of any implication of divinity. He talks about feel-good moments he describes as "moral elevation" - falling in love, watching a sunset, and so on. Here, he suggests religion provides practices and tools to trigger such moments:
I see this as a valid point, although I cringe at the phrase "the self". I have those types of feelings often, but not all day long every day, so clearly something triggers them and, since I am an atheist, I also know that religion is not a necessary ingredient for these experiences. The writer unnecessarily limits his comment to religion, perhaps disingenuously since most of his examples are nonreligious, but he could just have easily and more accurately said this: "the world has a thousand different ways of pressing the switch". It is perfectly reasonable that religion, a human invention revised through endless iterations, would naturally embrace, encourage, and emphasize some of these positive, preexisting human behaviors.
It is unfortunate that he uses the loaded word "miraculous". We see this kind of group cohesion happen all the time in non-religious contexts, albeit on a smaller scale, so it is not astonishing to see it also in religion. There are simple, reasonable, logistical reasons why such group formation can be a positive thing. We may not yet understand all the underlying evolved mechanisms, but miraculous? No. It is no more miraculous than the human eye. Is it astonishing that particular religions are so widely spread? Not when you look at how they were (and are) spread.
I think yes, indirectly. I think there is something in our evolved behavior that makes us tend to either invent or be drawn to religious thinking, and that it might have served (and be still serving) a useful survival purpose. This is a perfectly reasonable question to ask, and it doesn't offend the atheist in me.
Quote:
It was almost as if there was an "off" switch for the self, buried deep in our minds, and the world's religions were a thousand different ways of pressing the switch. |
I see this as a valid point, although I cringe at the phrase "the self". I have those types of feelings often, but not all day long every day, so clearly something triggers them and, since I am an atheist, I also know that religion is not a necessary ingredient for these experiences. The writer unnecessarily limits his comment to religion, perhaps disingenuously since most of his examples are nonreligious, but he could just have easily and more accurately said this: "the world has a thousand different ways of pressing the switch". It is perfectly reasonable that religion, a human invention revised through endless iterations, would naturally embrace, encourage, and emphasize some of these positive, preexisting human behaviors.
Quote:
Whether or not you believe in God, religions accomplish something miraculous: They turn large numbers of people who are not kin into a group that is able to work together, trust each other, and help each other. |
It is unfortunate that he uses the loaded word "miraculous". We see this kind of group cohesion happen all the time in non-religious contexts, albeit on a smaller scale, so it is not astonishing to see it also in religion. There are simple, reasonable, logistical reasons why such group formation can be a positive thing. We may not yet understand all the underlying evolved mechanisms, but miraculous? No. It is no more miraculous than the human eye. Is it astonishing that particular religions are so widely spread? Not when you look at how they were (and are) spread.
Quote:
Did we evolve to be religious? |
I think yes, indirectly. I think there is something in our evolved behavior that makes us tend to either invent or be drawn to religious thinking, and that it might have served (and be still serving) a useful survival purpose. This is a perfectly reasonable question to ask, and it doesn't offend the atheist in me.
via JREF Forum http://ift.tt/1hhOUSR
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