Chapter 12 – Dominance in Religion

Many major world religions appear to have begun as revitalization movements of some sort, stemming from visions of dominant and charismatic prophets who were able to fire the imaginations of people seeking a more comprehensive answer to problems that they felt were provided by customary beliefs. Even though some such charismatic individuals have emerged at many times and places in the world, it seems that the key to long-term success for a religion has a lot to do with not only the prophet who brings a new concept to people but also the group of followers who are able to institutionalize the movement. The initial concepts of a religion generally stem from an individual (prophet) who is said to be inspired directly from God (or a similar fictitious spiritual leader). The details of how each prophet became inspired is generally unknown, but many early religions sprang from the thoughts of individuals who were possibly under chemical influence, which allowed them to connect to what they felt was the divine maker of all things. Initially, formative religious concepts appear to have commenced prior to or during the Middle Paleolithic era (100,000–70,000 years ago). Organized religion traces its roots to the Neolithic Revolution, which began 11,000 years ago in the Near East, accompanying the rise of civilizations. At the time, there was little known about the world and its physical, chemical, and biological nature. Without a scientific base, it was natural to wonder about the unknown and imagine a God or Gods who directed events that were little understood. Long before and during this period, humans had experimented with the use of plants, along with their nutritious, medicinal, and recreational values. The first evidence of drug use (the opiates) appears to have been in Mesopotamia, roughly at the site of the biblical Garden of Eden, and dates back to 4000 BC—about the time that fundamentalist Christians believe the world was created. Very little was known about drugs at the time, but humans understood their chief feature: to cause altered perceptions or sense of increased insight or awareness. The earliest writings of the Bible were prepared in clay about 3500 years ago, around 1400 BC. The writings of the 30 or so other contributors to the Old Testament span a thousand years. Drugs and their effects were accepted by dominants and subordinates alike in these early times, and their use became important to citizens and the developing medical field. Opium preparations, for instance, are described in the Thebes papyrus of 1552 BC, which recommends its use in over 700 remedies. Humans determined early in their relationship with this drug that there were both benefits to its use and serious consequences to its overuse. Romans and their enemies, for instance, viewed opium not only as a painkiller but also as a poison—especially as a pleasant means of suicide. While those with a religious need would argue that considering the sacred scriptures as products of prophets who were under the influence of drugs is preposterous, there is strong evidence that this is precisely the environment in which many prophets lived to receive inspiration for their writings. Drugs were commonly used by many cultures to make the connection between earthbound activities and God, and experiments have shown that people exposed to certain drugs do, in fact, claim to have had a God-like connection. All formal religions appear to have had common roots, stemming from stories and beliefs that existed in the earliest civilizations. The major religions of the world show many parallels with the belief systems of early civilizations. But over time, religions change. Old religions sometimes bend their thoughts to apply to more modern populations, and new religions make new rules and interpret earlier doctrines to suit their needs. Most mythologies incorporate a creation account, in which one or more deities bring forth some form of what appears to be reality, often in a way that reveals the close intimacy between creator and creation. Many mythologies include a savior of sorts whose main desire is to liberate mankind from its own violent and ignorant (animalistic) nature. In the process, this savior makes rules to follow and requires absolute obedience to them; if the rules are not followed, there are consequences that may extend into an afterlife. It appears that human behavior is expressed toward these rules in different ways. Many humans believe they require their religion and attempt to follow the way of their God, using his or her (God's) strength to carry out their earthbound activities on a daily basis and thanking their God for this strength. While moral issues are part of religious philosophy, whether individuals in this group adopt a moral code depends on their particular human nature. Other humans utilize religious concepts when it is advantageous for them to do so. In these individuals, moral issues may or may not be important in their lives. Still others practice moral, immoral, and amoral ways of life without considering an intervening God-like force that guides them. As noted in these chapters, morality, immorality, and amorality may or may not depend on having a religion. Every religion seems to hold to some chain of command (dominance hierarchy), an organized line of increasing authority up to the God they worship. Thus, it appears clear that there is a strong desire by most humans to believe in a supernatural force, a force that gives them strength and hope to get through life with as few malfunctions as possible. Yet, it is sometimes the malfunctions that stimulate some humans to seek assistance from a deity. When times get rough, people often turn to their God to make things better, and they are willing to take a place in a hierarchy, the different positions depending on what is most comfortable for them. And in the process, they must believe (or pretend to believe) in the religion, the God, and the stipulations put forth by sacred scriptures. Religion in general has cast a deceptive shadow over the scientific world since the commencement of philosophical thought, not relenting until philosophers of the Renaissance and the rise of humanism forced religion to lose its dominant grip on world thinking. It was through the release of religious prejudice that science began to survey the world like no one had done before, and it has been through this release that humans have come to examine and accept the evolving nature of their species and other life forms. Certain individuals in all cultures will continue to follow one religion or another. In many free societies, they retain the right to believe whatever they want. Fortunately, we live at a time and place that nonbelievers of deities most often have the same rights. However, some religions are based on intolerance, mostly because of dominant prophets who have been recognized as leaders of a particular religion and their intolerant followers, and this has led to cultural segregation. In extreme cases, cultural segregation and intolerance have led to religious war and genocide. Regardless of who the worshippers are and what God they worship, God-loving people look at him (or her) in a positive manner and think of their deity as a good God. Believers and nonbelievers may ask: Do people who worship God actually believe their God has these characteristics or do they understand that it is simply their interpretation? There are many types of religious morals. Modern monotheistic religions, such as Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and certain others, define right and wrong by the laws and rules set forth by their respective Gods (or the human prophets who wrote about them) and as interpreted (or misinterpreted) by religious leaders (dominants) within the respective faith. Polytheistic religious traditions tend to be less absolute. For example, within Buddhism, the intention of the individual and the circumstances should be accounted for to determine if an action is right or wrong. In certain other religions, for example, Hinduism, right and wrong are decided according to the categories of social rank, kinship, and stages of life. Also, there is no absolute prohibition on killing in this religion. It recognizes that it may be necessary in certain circumstances. It has been found that religion is not always positively associated with morality and that nonreligious individuals not only have a moral code but also are generally more tolerant toward individuals unlike themselves and actually practice their moral code more so than those with religious backgrounds. In fact, major crimes have been found, in many instances, to be compatible with a superstitious piety and devotion. Thus, it is justly regarded as unsafe to draw any inference in favor of a man's or woman's morals from the fervor or strictness of his or her religious or nonreligious exercises. Religious intolerance is an outstanding feature of many religions. An example can be seen in the invasion of North America by Europeans who during the late 1400s were escaping from their homeland to find gold, better health, and a freedom of religion. One of their first chores in the New World was to dominate “the savages,” convert what they referred to as “heathens” to their way of belief, and kill those who would not convert.