Newsgroups: alt.atheism
Subject: Re: The origin of Religion
From: 9051467f@levels.unisa.edu.au (The Eidolon)
Date: 7 Nov 92 19:08:54 +1030
Organization: That damn kid is still here!

In article <1992Nov2.204911.20068@news.acns.nwu.edu>,
ikonen@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Ian Konen) writes:

>     How reasonable is it to expect a person with almost no scientific knowledge
> to spontaneosly come up with the concept of god(s)?  Specifically the person in
> mind is the original person or people who first came up with religion.  Most
> of us atheists will assert that a child brought up without religious influence
> will naturally tend towards atheism, but in this case, the child would have at
> least a basic understanding of science.  For example, even if he couldn't 

Spot on, if you have a knowledge of science and you question all around
you, then you are likely to become an atheist (unless previously
brainwashed, probably leading to a mind riot...)

However, look at the number of children who come up eith imaginary friends
or monsters under the bed! Some of these monsters are based on stuff they
have already seen, so it's not surprising that some of the old gods were
based on animals (such as hyenas, bulls, goats etc). If the children
recieve no new info, such as parents comfort or are too scared to take
a peep under the bed then they are likely to grow up thinking about
that stuff - vampires were never heard of till that misfortunate
Transylvania dude popped up. Some people still believe stories about
blood sucking zombies, even supposedly enlightened adults!

> explain why lightening occurs, he would know it was electricity.  To a
> caveman, a god would be a very likely explanation for lightening.  But if the
> caveman had never even heard of the concept of god(s), how likely would it be
> for him to come up with it himself?

Easy! First there would be non-all powerfull spirits derived from imaginary
friends n stuff, then as the ages wore on the spirits grew stronger, and
fewer, so now we have various 'one-true-all-powerful-gods' around the
place. Frightened people will believe just about anything that gives them
hope. They wouldn't just pop up all of a sudden, they'd be based on
what went previously, but the first thing was likely to be a mishmash
of tiny spirit thingies, god of rain, god of sun, god of sky etc.

Gods are evolving just like animals! New stuff is only created by
mutation! The selection wont work without it. Check out the number
of new age churches, or a real biggie, the Protestants! That happened
in a few places independantly, like England, France and Germany.

> Obviously (to an atheist at least) it
> happened at least once, but how (un)lucky was it that it happened.  Did all
> religions then come from this one original (un)lucky guess, or is it actually
> a probable enough circumstance, that there are multiple original religions? 

I think there would be multiple origins, plus some derivations and the
new bastardised gods such a the Christian one (some of Jesus' stuff
is thought to be derived from some eastern cults, that sort of thing)

> If we ever encounter another sentient race, is it probable that they will
> have a religion whether in history only, or still alive, or will the concept
> of religion be completely new to them?

New concept? I doubt it.
Who knows? We can go into space (not far, but still) yet most of our
society still believes in things that go bump in the night.

-- 
John J McVey, Whyalla, Uni S. Australia    9051467f@levels.unisa.edu.au
Electronic Engineering student & Terror Tekkie!
Any email can be posted unless I state explicitly otherwise.
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|  Obligatory disclaimer: UniSA hates my opinions...  |  \/Darwin o\
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An idea is not responsible for the people who believe in it. Marquis
Newsgroups: alt.atheism