| "My only obstacle with this theory of mine is: What is the advantage of religion from a evolutionary point of view? I can see that the idea of religion is a good idea, but it seems like religion has been the main cause of homocide throughout world history. What I mean by this is, more people throughout history have died in the name of religion (religious wars, fundelmentalist, etc..) then for anything else. So how has religion helped man, why are we prone to beleive in it?"
As I read history, religion has been a part of human society from the beginning. (Of course not everyone in a given society is religious, so it is not innate in all people.) For example, there have always been shamans, priests, priestesses etc. These designated religious people (almost) always had a place of power or respect, and oftern were a special class. My hunch is that they gave some structure and coherence to what was deemed "ethical behavior" by their society. This societal recognition of a common ethic enabled many societies to function with less internal friction, and act in a more coherent way as a group. Obviously there are destructive counter examples, but by and large I think the effect (over the span of history) has been postive in the sense of allowing human societies to function and grow, in a stable way.
Yes, often religions enforce their beliefs on pain of death, and clearly have been used to justify bloody wars between groups and persecutions. But to focus on only these effects denies the good things that have been wrought by religious beliefs. The actions of criminals do not taint everyone. |