Orientations toward religion

[Dennis]

[The Dharma Bum]

At least the unknown is potentially knowable.

[exploited]

Religion is the rationalization of all those things we aren't able to comprehend naturally. When we try to think about stuff like infinite, or wrap our heads around the universal chicken before the egg dilemma, or when a kid gets blown away by asking "Who am I?", we start to look for answers that can fit into our causal understanding of the world. This is why the concept of God is universal, and why science has always been in conflict with religion. It allows us to sidestep those questions and put it all down to a force we cannot comprehend, in a way that happens to be useful for forming tribes and instituting social norms. In evolutionary terms, there is a growing body of evidence that religion was a primary cause of civilization: it allowed us to stop navel gazing long enough to drive a plow, with only the occasional human sacrifice or virginity slaying needed to ward off all those nasty things we didn't understand.

[JDHURF]

[Stratego]

[J.K. Gregg]

[spacemonkey]

[J.K. Gregg]

[spacemonkey]

[J.K. Gregg]