Religion is a cultural and aesthetic preference

Con Writes: :Before religion existed, there existed societies, cultures and families. Religion came after it and was not at all a part of it, but rather a very strong coincidence. ---The opposite is true actually. Religion is evident in all ancient hunter-gatherer societies. Cave paintings, archaeological findings, and existent indigenous people all believe in deities, they practice rituals, and share those traditions with their offspring. In fact, religion is a very large part of tribal culture in general. We can easily trace the development of humans from small bands of nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes, to small agrarian societies that domesticated animals and worked the land, which grew into feudalism and monarchy, after that we had industrialism and we are in the digital age. It is clear the belief in deities has been with us all along. (See "Our Kind" by Marvin Harris " a popular anthropological text) :There are atheist Arabs, Muslim Americans, Hindu Pakistanis and Buddhist British. They are existing because culture, society and familial influence are merely forms of pressure that are resistible if one begins to care. ---Indeed, you speak of exceptional humans who questions beyond received opinion, the seekers, the thinkers and rebels of the world. They are to be commended for seeing through cultural cloaking devices, however, they are exactly that, exceptions. My premise is that religious choice is based on taste and culture " not that cultural indoctrination is inescapable. Hats off to those who emancipate their minds. :This is the fundamental flaw in the pro case. Those who don't care about religion will form a false one that they merely know by name and identity as part of their cultural and/or social heritage. ---My statement applies to all religion, I do not pretend favorites, only the religious themselves make such distinctions. I am an equal opportunity critic of religion. :The dark truth of religion is only true when one fails to see that anyone who genuinely has a religion actually never got it by cultural means and most certainly as far deeper conviction to it than mere aesthetics. ---Yes, fanatics, they are the darker side of religion. Theirs is a special brand of religion because it is mixed with a bit of insanity, however I don't think this negates the cultural influence on their choice of religion. I think here you speak to a degree of belief and commitment. Are the Mexican Catholics more fervent that my white, middle-class Catholic family? Yes. Religious belief and its practice falls along and enormous spectrum. Some believers are fanatics willing to kill or die for their god, others are casual believers who only go to church on Christmas " but either way, if they profess a belief in god(s) they are still religious. My definition doesn't stipulate how religious a person is, just that they believe in deities. :Pro defines religion as "The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods. Details of belief as taught or discussed. " This has nothing to do with culture nor socialization, it is to do with personal belief and faith (two things this incredulous vessel abhors and hence why hatred for religion digs far deeper than that of culture, which are independent of one another). ---The definition that you kindly reposted above states explicitly that religion is not only the belief in deities, but the "Details of belief as taught or discussed. " Teaching is the primary means of socialization, it is through teaching and discussing that socialization happens. In fact, here you have strengthened my argument by quoting my definition. Thank you. :Iranians/Persians are often known to grease back their hair, let loose at night clubs and drink like there's no tomorrow. They are also under a fairly Shariah style law (based upon Islam). Clearly the culture and socialization and the 'aesthetic' religion are totally irrelevant and unconnected. ---The ability, or inability, of religious people to abide by their own dogma is not a comment on the source of their faith, though it may reflect something of their character. :You have 'Christians' from the Ghetto who want to burn down the White House and 'Christians' in Florida and Texas wit their white collar jobs, and their silver spoon lifestyle wanting to exterminate all blacks in the Ghetto. Both the same religion, totally different culture and aesthetic representation of it. ---I think this is an excellent example of how culture influences the expression of the religion. The fact the Christianity looks different depending on where you are in the country illustrates the point well. They are consider themselves to be Christian, but their expression and practice of that ideas is colored by the culture from which it arises. :Religions is in fact so unrelated to culture that there is simply so vast a topic to even bother going into. ---I would grant you this statement if by "culture" you mean "high culture" - if you are referring to people who are 'cultured' meaning educated, worldly or intellectual, then I can agree. Religious belief is vastly different from the mindset of free thinkers, intellectuals, or artists. Aside from this perspective my original statement is intended to reference "culture" in the broadest sense, that is all the things within a society that make up its living expression. Culture is everything: TV, the symphony, museums, fashion, food, music, books, movies, slang, hair style, baseball, bowling, wine tasting and monster trucks. it is everything we do to express who we think we are, it is the manifestation of our collective identity. Yes. .. .Religions are numerous and I have no wish to delve into the details of any of them. .. .. it's not relevant to the topic. One of the most important aspects of cultural identity is religion, the two are bound up together. A minority of people reject the normative religious ideology of their culture, the majority of people accept it and take for granted it's ethnocentric biases. The exceptions to this general rule do not defeat the overall validity of my assertion.