theotherguy
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again, I restate my theory of religion:
Religion as influenced by Natural Selection
Religions act like psychological viruses. They don't exist as life, yet they feed off of the lives and minds of others, and use them to reproduce. Parents pass their beleifs onto their children, and infect the next generation, evangelists pass their beleifs onto bystanders and infect over long distances.
A god is nothing without followers, because a god has no body and no real power. It is only when thousands of people beleive in a god that the god gains any power, per se. A god may not be real, but when it has a billion followers all willing to do work in what they think is his name, that god becomes very real in the world. But all in all, gods are only phenomenon and products of our minds.
Religions therefore require followers to survive. Followers give religion power, and so they are the fitness factor in the evolution of religion. So, religions with different doctrine (traits), preform differentley in the world based on how well they gain and keep followers. And thus religion is a product of natural selection.
Thus, religions have evolved throughout time in terms of these things:
1. Spread-(evangalism): A religion or god with a maximum emphasis on spread will gain more members, and will be more powerful.
2. Faith- A religion or god that insists that its members beleive it above all else, in spite of evidence, logic or reason has powerful antibodies against skepticism. Skepticism is a "cure" for the virus of a religion, but over time religion has developed the antibody of faith to get rid of it.
3. Ritual- A religion or god promoting absolute rituals and laws gives more order to itself, and is less likely to dissolve or be taken over by another religion.
4. Violence- A religion that uses violence or armed conflict to spread is even more likely to succeed due to the fact that all opposition is killed.
5. Structure- A religion that is structured and heirarchial will not only be more likely to spread through exisisting government bodies, like christianity through the Roman Empire, but it will become more ritualistic and therefore more real to its followers, and more likely to sustain itself
Thus, over time, the thousands of religions that have come to be have fought it out with each other over the minds and souls of the human race, and those that have come out on top are naturally evangelical, faithful, ritualistic, sometimes violent, and highly structured.
Religion as influenced by Natural Selection
Religions act like psychological viruses. They don't exist as life, yet they feed off of the lives and minds of others, and use them to reproduce. Parents pass their beleifs onto their children, and infect the next generation, evangelists pass their beleifs onto bystanders and infect over long distances.
A god is nothing without followers, because a god has no body and no real power. It is only when thousands of people beleive in a god that the god gains any power, per se. A god may not be real, but when it has a billion followers all willing to do work in what they think is his name, that god becomes very real in the world. But all in all, gods are only phenomenon and products of our minds.
Religions therefore require followers to survive. Followers give religion power, and so they are the fitness factor in the evolution of religion. So, religions with different doctrine (traits), preform differentley in the world based on how well they gain and keep followers. And thus religion is a product of natural selection.
Thus, religions have evolved throughout time in terms of these things:
1. Spread-(evangalism): A religion or god with a maximum emphasis on spread will gain more members, and will be more powerful.
2. Faith- A religion or god that insists that its members beleive it above all else, in spite of evidence, logic or reason has powerful antibodies against skepticism. Skepticism is a "cure" for the virus of a religion, but over time religion has developed the antibody of faith to get rid of it.
3. Ritual- A religion or god promoting absolute rituals and laws gives more order to itself, and is less likely to dissolve or be taken over by another religion.
4. Violence- A religion that uses violence or armed conflict to spread is even more likely to succeed due to the fact that all opposition is killed.
5. Structure- A religion that is structured and heirarchial will not only be more likely to spread through exisisting government bodies, like christianity through the Roman Empire, but it will become more ritualistic and therefore more real to its followers, and more likely to sustain itself
Thus, over time, the thousands of religions that have come to be have fought it out with each other over the minds and souls of the human race, and those that have come out on top are naturally evangelical, faithful, ritualistic, sometimes violent, and highly structured.