- Thread starter
- #121
Pineapple Mama wrote:
I happen to agree with him myself. The sheer number of people that have been slaughtered in the name of this or that deity, for this one, for that one, cuz that one said so, cuz they want a sacrifice... on and on and on... boggles me really. But, what happens when it's gone? Without hell/purgatory/hades/etc hanging over their heads will the ones who before wouldn't commit a crime now have no reason, but offending fellow humans anyways, not to? Or will folks actually use that whole brain and not harm others just because they want the same respect for themselves? Also, another question... without the complications of religion what effect will this have on population, resources, etc? For thousands of years religion has been a roundabout population control... either through the killing of entire peoples OR through the rigid rules about procreation... without either of those what can we expect in our population? A steady increase since no more sacrifices/wars? A decline in births because BC is no longer banned? Imagine what historians will read 500+ years from now about our time... fascinating.
As for the specifics of what you said - most of what religion does is sacralize norms and serve as a form of social cohesion. It provides structure and milestone events, explanation for the unexplainable etc. Science will never really know all that there is to know. And humans are social creatures. One of the things atheists say they miss about religion is the sense of belonging to a larger social group of "the church" whatever church that is. Some of them are actually starting Sunday morning get togethers just to have get togethers.
War and social policies are very effective means of population control. If you let a large enough number of your population go un-fed or underfed, they will often lessen in number. They may still breed prolifically, but their numbers may remain stable due to early deaths and infant mortality. MOST religions actually encourage excessive breeding figuring that if their group breeds more they will, by default have more members and then more power - think Catholicism.
HUmans have been proven to be hardwired for belief. What gets us into trouble is when we choose to believe that whatever it is that "we" believe is exactly right and anyone who disagrees should be punished or killed. Theistic religions that insist that some figure head must be present to interpret the word of (whoever) to the people are most likely to be prone to abuses of power. Ethicalist religions which encourage you to find your own path tend to have less of this.
In the absence of "religion" you will still have belief systems that will justify war of some sort. Many believe that if you take away the fiery threat of hell people will have no morals whatsoever and they will run amok. THere is some evidence of this, but it has to be supported by a very individualistic society that encourages that everyone is out for themselves. As social creatures, this is a fairly unnatural way for humans to behave, so it does not exist well in the absence of a religious set of guidelines to control it. (I do not attempt to teach this in an intro class - it is waaay too hard to swallow for most)
Okay, I am sorry I am done. Far too into this subject by far!!
As for the specifics of what you said - most of what religion does is sacralize norms and serve as a form of social cohesion. It provides structure and milestone events, explanation for the unexplainable etc. Science will never really know all that there is to know. And humans are social creatures. One of the things atheists say they miss about religion is the sense of belonging to a larger social group of "the church" whatever church that is. Some of them are actually starting Sunday morning get togethers just to have get togethers.
War and social policies are very effective means of population control. If you let a large enough number of your population go un-fed or underfed, they will often lessen in number. They may still breed prolifically, but their numbers may remain stable due to early deaths and infant mortality. MOST religions actually encourage excessive breeding figuring that if their group breeds more they will, by default have more members and then more power - think Catholicism.
HUmans have been proven to be hardwired for belief. What gets us into trouble is when we choose to believe that whatever it is that "we" believe is exactly right and anyone who disagrees should be punished or killed. Theistic religions that insist that some figure head must be present to interpret the word of (whoever) to the people are most likely to be prone to abuses of power. Ethicalist religions which encourage you to find your own path tend to have less of this.
In the absence of "religion" you will still have belief systems that will justify war of some sort. Many believe that if you take away the fiery threat of hell people will have no morals whatsoever and they will run amok. THere is some evidence of this, but it has to be supported by a very individualistic society that encourages that everyone is out for themselves. As social creatures, this is a fairly unnatural way for humans to behave, so it does not exist well in the absence of a religious set of guidelines to control it. (I do not attempt to teach this in an intro class - it is waaay too hard to swallow for most)
Okay, I am sorry I am done. Far too into this subject by far!!
