• @SlopppyEngineer
    link
    English
    146 months ago

    What I read is that religion was a way to codify habits for survival. Pork meat that spoils quickly in a dessert climate is a health hazard, but people ate it anyway, but when the old guy says it angers the gods the chances of obeying is a lot bigger. That kind of thing. Of course when people obey gods there are those that claim to speak for the gods.

    • oce 🐆
      link
      fedilink
      English
      66 months ago

      For sure this explains a lot of religious rules but I think agent illusion is also a big contributor.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        26 months ago

        You’re both wrong and you’re both right. A religion is just everything people think is important and needs to be believed by everyone. The “one single cause of religion” is that humans pass on knowledge. They teach each other. Obviously, this will result in socially organised systems of belief, AKA religions. And if you’re asking “why is the content of religions incorrect”, it’s because human beings weren’t born with omniscience. Your theories apply to why the content of religions is what it is, but not to why religion itself exists.