Topic: The function of religion ? - page 29. (Read 18646 times)

When a person believes that there is nothing beyond what they currently experience, the mind reaches a state of perceptual stagnation.

A common example of this most people might recognize is reading a book verses watching the same story in movie form. When one watches a movie, one is fed the sounds, pictures, and scenarios directly and almost completely based on ones senses, rather than ones thought process. When a person reads a book it has been proven that the mind is more active because it in fact must create all of the previously mentioned sensory images from ones mind, either imagined or experienced in the past. If this part of the mind is not exercised, as any muscle left inactive, its ability to function will atrophy just like a muscle. Occasionally the mind will be called upon to invoke images for which it has no previous association. This is when the mind is truly exercised and has potential to create something new and amazing.

All I can say about religion is:

If god does exist; I hope he's got some good excuses.

Anaximander (play /əˌnæksɨˈmændər/; Greek: Ἀναξίμανδρος Anaximandros; c. 610 – c. 546 BC) was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who lived in Miletus, a city of Ionia; Milet in modern Turkey. He belonged to the Milesian school and learned the teachings of his master Thales. He succeeded Thales and became the second master of that school where he counted Anaximenes and arguably, Pythagoras amongst his pupils.

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Origin of humankind

Anaximander speculated about the beginnings and origin of animal life. Taking into account the existence of fossils, he claimed that animals sprang out of the sea long ago. The first animals were born trapped in a spiny bark, but as they got older, the bark would dry up and break.[40] As the early humidity evaporated, dry land emerged and, in time, humankind had to adapt. The 3rd century Roman writer Censorinus reports:

    Anaximander of Miletus considered that from warmed up water and earth emerged either fish or entirely fishlike animals. Inside these animals, men took form and embryos were held prisoners until puberty; only then, after these animals burst open, could men and women come out, now able to feed themselves.[41]

Anaximander put forward the idea that humans had to spend part of this transition inside the mouths of big fish to protect themselves from the Earth's climate until they could come out in open air and lose their scales.[42] He thought that, considering humans' extended infancy, we could not have survived in the primeval world in the same manner we do presently.

Even though he had no theory of natural selection, some people consider him as evolution's most ancient proponent. (The theory of an aquatic descent of man was re-conceived centuries later as the aquatic ape hypothesis.) These pre-Darwinian concepts may seem strange, considering modern knowledge and scientific methods, because they present complete explanations of the universe while using bold and hard-to-demonstrate hypotheses. However, they illustrate the beginning of a phenomenon sometimes called the "Greek miracle": men try to explain the nature of the world, not with the aid of myths or religion, but with material principles. This is the very principle of scientific thought[dubious – discuss][citation needed], which was later advanced further by improved research methods.

Evolution only cares about survival - I follow your religion and I raise my kids or else I genetically fail. The only benefit is survival.
The Zoroastrians were wiped out by Islam. The European pagans were wiped out by Christians - either convert or die.
It's pure tribalism - evolution doesn't promise any benefit or advance just survival (hence worms are so successful).
If having an emotional symptom makes survival more likely then it will be selected. If rationalism makes survival more likely then it will be selected. Wait a few thousand years and we'll have our answer.

That is not true, there are a lot of things that evolved that have absolutely no beneficial function.  Religion is more likely a symptom of a emotion brain along with a cognitive brain.

Yep, and another insult to our little brain is that everything around us most probably will be still there when we are dont. This insulting feeling makes us create heavens and world-end scenarios, we just cant stand the fact that its over one time and everything else will go on as is, ironic, isnt it.

The function of religion is simple: it provides the illusion of control. When your life is out of control, it's comforting to think that Somewhere up there, god has a plan for you.

The question really isn't one of belief - it must be one of evolution. Religion must have provided a substantial evolutionary advantage otherwise it couldn't have existed at all.

Why do you help others then?