Ironic?? (atheist--religious)

[bunny]

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It wasn't "invented" so much as just grew out of people trying to explain the world and universe around them.

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I actually tried to pick a word such as "invented" that everyone could agree with.
From dictionary.com ---
in·vent ( P ) Pronunciation Key (n-vnt)
tr.v. in·vent·ed, in·vent·ing, in·vents
To produce or contrive (something previously unknown) by the use of ingenuity or imagination.

I think we could definately say religion was invented

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I think most believers would accept your definition of invention but claim religion was discovered.

[Lestat]

I really would like to learn more about Christian's beliefs when it comes to killing. As far as I can tell, they don't seem to have a problem with it.

Many certainly have no problem with it in times of war. George Bush is a devout Christian as are most politicians (at least they have to claim a belief in God in order to get elected in this country).

I also think (someone can correct me if I'm wrong), that most Christians support the death penalty. In short, I don't see where Christians (or most religions for that matter), have a problem with killing people.

[DonkNitUP]

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Many certainly have no problem with it in times of war.

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I dont want to start defending different religions because if you can tell in my original post, I am saying its ironic and quite laughable that killing goes on BETWEEN religions and could very easily cause the world to end BECAUSE OF WARS. Religion was not intended to create wars, but it is.

I am pretty sure if you ask any Christian they say: Love thy Neighbor, Do unto others have you would have them do unto you, and killing is a sin. There are 3 examples of how peace is expected within the religion. My point was how ironic it is that killing is going on because of the religions!

[SWB]

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So assuming there is no correct religion and we should have not focus on one central religion, why do you think religion was "invented"?

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Same reason as science - to answer "what's happening and why?" questions. Nowadays the two fields are different, but that's a modern trend. For most of recorded history, and (probably) all of prehistory, religious leaders were the ones trying to figure out how weather works, what the stars are, etc. Shamans and other religious leaders in pre-literate tribal societies are often the repository of a huge amount of information vital to the tribe's survival, about cycles of plant growth, animal migration, climate, medicine, and so on. No reason to suspect it was any different in prehistory.

[illeagle]

Maybe Lil Dead Pope can answer some of your questions.

[pilliwinks]

I agree with bunny that institutionalised religion follows the rules of all institutions. I wouldn't agree that this inevitably leads to repression of the masses, but still those that survive tend to do so at the expense of alternative institutions. This is not always bloody, but given human nature, it has that tendancy.

And I agree with the OP that reduction of chaos (I'd say establishment of orthodoxy), is a possible result of organised religion, and I'd go further to say that it is a huge benefit to those societies that can pull it off. If you disagree, read what the participants in the English Civil War thought. Of course tolerance is great too, but historically it tends to be limited and brief...

I would be interested to know whether the propensity for people to fight each other is more pronounced when they have a religious cause rather than a selfish one. Personally I suspect the latter - the Mongol hordes were not fighting for a God, nor the Romans, nor the countless clans and tribes that have fought since darkest antiquity.

It is of course sad to see hypocrisy in action, but that is no reason to criticise genuine faith, any more than the actions of those who fabricate results are a reason to dispute the merits of science.

[Copernicus]

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Maybe Lil Dead Pope can answer some of your questions.

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LMAO "Doesnt god have the decency to look away while Im dropping a deuce"?

[Requin]

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I think it's misguided for anyone to say that religion was 'invented' for some overarching pragmatic reason. Primitive tribes, for example, didnt invent religion to control people, etc. People were religious (for the most part) b/c they genuinely believed in the supernatural.

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[bunny]

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I think it's misguided for anyone to say that religion was 'invented' for some overarching pragmatic reason. Primitive tribes, for example, didnt invent religion to control people, etc. People were religious (for the most part) b/c they genuinely believed in the supernatural.

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I think why people are religious and why religion was invented are two different questions (I am presuming here that it has no real subject matter and is purely a social construction).

So I think tribespeople were religious because they believed - but I think the invention of rituals, sacrifices, etc by the shamans or whatever group was the religious authority was to benefit themselves. (I doubt any of the priest classes lived poorly in any of the primitive cultures).

[J. Sawyer]

I think there is one obvious reason that religion began to exist: to explain existance