Did religion begin because we fear what we do not know or understand?
I'd love your opinions on this, please make sure you do not insult any religion while answering though!
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NoReligion was most likely created not out of fear of the unknown, but curiosity of it. Humans have always sought out to understand what is beyond our realm of knowledge. It's in our nature, and has been since we were born.33% Voted for by Oblivion Kitty God, Molzahn.
I have two views on this, personally.
If religion was "invented", then it I think it would have been because ancient man knew something had to have made the world and everything else he could see.
He knew something or someone had created him, too. And so, if religion is false, then man "created" the image of a deity to explain creation of all things.
If religion is not invented, but rather a manifestation of a higher power's will on Earth, then religion was quite obviously designed to be a guide for man to follow.
Even Adam would have needed some sort of frame within which to work. He would have to know his boundaries and limitations.
This statement is not intended to discuss whether or not God is real; I have not stated my personal opinion on any particular religion, nor shall I.
I make this statement only for the purposes of giving a clear reason why I don't think religion was started because of fear.
So please, do not comment on this with regards to your religion and do not message me about your religion. To be frank, I don't really care. -
The denial of deathTo quote Ernest Becker,Voted for by Ns243cxcvi.
“The idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else; it is a mainspring of human activity - designed largely to avoid the fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny of man.”
So it's not surprising that We, Humans, would want to put so much faith in an organization that promotes the idea of eternal existence.
Also, religion is a method of achieving personal greatness through the establishment of a moral hierarchy. It is therefore not only the fear of death but of insignificance that compels us to take up religion. For what other reason than our own pride do we aspire to achieve greatness? -
all of 'emi think all of them were created for the fear of the unknown with the other reason that people wanted to believe that there was another thing out there greater than us which whom created usVoted for by Rhapsody.
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No...I think it was created based on people thought existed that saved them from fear, because most aren't very independent whether they like it or not.Voted for by GinryuStargazer.
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Maybe yes...Maybe no....I don't know why religion began, if I did then I doubt I would still be alive, the power behind religions is blinding, and as in The Danvinci code relgion can make people do terrible things...Voted for by Tawariell.
My only thought, or I should say, my biggest thought on the matter is this:
Many films and books intuperate death, the largest majority of these use the charracters death and induldge in what could be beyond the darkness. For example Torchwood [BBC 1 a branch of Doctor Who -UK staring John Barrowmen and Eve Miller] has an opening episode where a charracter dies, this charceter however contiues to play a part in Torchwood and the new member [Gwen Cooper], in a later episode they reserect the dead member of the crew and she and Gwen go missing. Gwen dies in replacement of the old member who is now immortal...[so it seems] and she goes into white eternity.here I quote:
Gwen Cooper: 'Whats death like?'
Suzie: 'Honestly?'
Gwen: 'Yes,'
Suzie: 'Well, what do you beilive? Are you religious?'
Gwen: [laughs nervously] 'No, no i'm not religious but, but I always thought i'd see my gran again and my hamster. It soudns stupid I know but I thought I might live in the clouds...'[stops, looks at Suzie] 'whats if really like?'
Suzie: 'nothing.'
Gwen: 'What?'
Suzie: 'it's nothing. Just nothing.'
Gwen: 'you mean your all alone?'
Suzie: 'No, I didn't say that,' [eyes glaze over] 'so many voices and minds all crying out but its just nothing. White. But it's coming Gwen, its coming from the darkness, its coming for,'
Gwen: [cuts Suzie off] 'No don't say that! Please, there must be something...'
Suzie: 'You never did leave childhood did you?'
And I could give other examples but you catch my drift. There was one book I read as a child, it was about 3 children who never knew one another, they met each other briefly via a trian. Each one of them dies. The young boy jumps before the train, the small girl comits suicide and leaps of the train, and I don't know how the older boy dies it wasn't very clear. But they all end up in a camp where everyday is the same. they wear grey suits and live in a grey building. Outside is desert as far as you can see. They are given pactlunches and have to pick rocks from the fields. But one day the youngest boy decides to try and escape, he takes the girl with him and they journey thruogh the desert to a large statue where they ask to go home. They are asked a question and told they wont remember this place and it is up to them whether they return. When they agreed they asked what off all the other children here
'No one stays forever'
I take this as almost the authurs opinion on death taking the idea that when we die we do not linger an an empty void nor float in the clouds with our lost friends and family but insted work until our midns are clear enough to return where, maybe we come back in a different form...
Religions are one of the oldest things on earth, so is it that as human beings we created these religions and ideas about after life so as to stop our fears? I know last night I certainly felt fearful of death for a moment before remembering my religion and that I will go to Heaven, if God allows me on Judgment day, but I am also awear that if I do no understand something or I don't know about it then I do tend to hold a small fear for the matter. It would make sense to me if thats why we have stories like the Afterlife and reserecttion and returning in different forms. I hope they are true and there is not just nothing for all eternity....
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Xelgaroth
November 19, 2009
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You're right, this is absurd. But there is another way to consider it. "Hmm... I don't understand this, and I do understand that, but whether I understand it or not is irrelevant; I think the whole thing a divine miracle. Even the things I can understand, God did it too!"
Think about the process of birth. Unless you wish to talk of the recent steps forward in quantum physics and our recent discoveries of its relationship with biochemistry (which, it is becoming apparent, is extensive), we have a fairly firm grip of understanding on the mechanics of the birth process. We understand on a microscopic level how a creature is conceived, gestates, and is born into the world. We understand the division of cells and the formation of the fætus. Nevertheless, despite the fact that we understand it, for me, anyway, birth is no less miraculous merely because I understand it. To the contrary, it is all the more miraculous, for now I understand the deep complexities and intricacies of God's creation, and can appreciate even more the awesomeness of the detail He put into it. This is hardly fear of the unknown, but rather acknowledgement of both the known and the unknown, and a celebration of its creation whether I understand it or not.
I'm not trying to plug my religion or anyone else's, I'm merely pointing out that it is possible for religion to not attribute the unknown simply to God. It can attribute EVERYTHING to God, the known as well as the unknown. Electricity is no less a miracle from God now that I understand it. The thunder of the storm and the force of the hurricane has no less theogenic splendour because I know that it is caused by warm air rising and cold air descending. So what if I know this? All the MORE reason to say "God did it".
I am aware that there remains the lack of tangible evidence for the existence of this deity, but that is not what my point here is. I'm simply saying that religion is not generated out of either fear OR curiosity of the unknown. It's more than just something you put to plug into your knowledge gaps. You can also apply it to your existing knowledge. Indeed, to say that something isn't created on the grounds that I understand it is really quite absurd. I see an iPod on the ground, and let's say I understand it (I don't, but let's say I do). Does that mean that it wasn't created? Hardly. Granted, on the same token, simply because I DON'T understand it doesn't mean it WAS created, either, but my point is simply that this idea that because we understand it, it's not God, just seems like a misconception.
Xelgaroth
November 19, 2009
Edit | Reply
You're right, this is absurd. But there is another way to consider it. "Hmm... I don't understand this, and I do understand that, but whether I understand it or not is irrelevant; I think the whole thing a divine miracle. Even the things I can understand, God did it too!"
Think about the process of birth. Unless you wish to talk of the recent steps forward in quantum physics and our recent discoveries of its relationship with biochemistry (which, it is becoming apparent, is extensive), we have a fairly firm grip of understanding on the mechanics of the birth process. We understand on a microscopic level how a creature is conceived, gestates, and is born into the world. We understand the division of cells and the formation of the fætus. Nevertheless, despite the fact that we understand it, for me, anyway, birth is no less miraculous merely because I understand it. To the contrary, it is all the more miraculous, for now I understand the deep complexities and intricacies of God's creation, and can appreciate even more the awesomeness of the detail He put into it. This is hardly fear of the unknown, but rather acknowledgement of both the known and the unknown, and a celebration of its creation whether I understand it or not.
I'm not trying to plug my religion or anyone else's, I'm merely pointing out that it is possible for religion to not attribute the unknown simply to God. It can attribute EVERYTHING to God, the known as well as the unknown. Electricity is no less a miracle from God now that I understand it. The thunder of the storm and the force of the hurricane has no less theogenic splendour because I know that it is caused by warm air rising and cold air descending. So what if I know this? All the MORE reason to say "God did it".
I am aware that there remains the lack of tangible evidence for the existence of this deity, but that is not what my point here is. I'm simply saying that religion is not generated out of either fear OR curiosity of the unknown. It's more than just something you put to plug into your knowledge gaps. You can also apply it to your existing knowledge. Indeed, to say that something isn't created on the grounds that I understand it is really quite absurd. I see an iPod on the ground, and let's say I understand it (I don't, but let's say I do). Does that mean that it wasn't created? Hardly. Granted, on the same token, simply because I DON'T understand it doesn't mean it WAS created, either, but my point is simply that this idea that because we understand it, it's not God, just seems like a misconception.
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