Why humans develope religious beliefs? What is the purpose of these beliefs?
>>877942
Because we are not alone.
http://evolution.binghamton.edu/religion/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/BeginnersGuide.pdf
>10 anti religious threads up
What triggered atheists so much today?
First to explain natural events, then when philosophical thought evolved a "God figure" became inevitable because of the first cause and s o on
>>877955
How is asking why religions exist anti-religious?
What triggered Chrstfags so much today?
>>877961
>muh shitstorm starting thread veiled behind genuine curiosity
It's obvious from the Andromeda galaxy.
Fear of death
>>877942
its not possible not to develop refined notions, however false or unrelated they might be, about reality, beyond basic practical stuff, which in itself is absurd
these notions are rarely simple, or even unambiguous, and usualy involve entire philosofical or magical systems and practices
these are often hardly comperhensible to the 'uninitiated' who either percieve them as simplified sets of 'holies' and such, read in or out of them some superstitions, or just reject them for no other reason than 'to meta ; didn read'
this is why if such systems of thought or practice must be dumbed down into cartoonish, meme like setups trough which metaphysics and philosophy and ethics and so on, can be given to the general population of any given culture in adequate, approchable forms
basicaly, this 'meta-reality' must be explained to people in a way which they agree with it and so will cooperate and get on with the programe
and so you get organised religions
>>877965
Damn, you are terrific at reading people's minds.
>>877942
Religion was created in order to explain the explainable, and to codify social norms and standards among groups of people.
>>877955
Don't get your yarmulke all bunched up, Schlomo.
>>877971
this
>>879841
>Religion was created in order to explain the explainable
Don't you mean explain the unexplainable?
>>879870
Indeed.
Lightning, earthquakes, storms, all that shit.
People are so dumb that they think that just because we had parents, that means everything must have some kind of "parent", so we invented "gods".
Humans naturally see patterns everywhere, even when the "pattern" is otherwise absurd
People can't handle the thought of an apathetic universe
Because there are underlying, universal, truths.
>>879956
This is a poor explanation.
The story of Orphis certainly isn't just a way to explain some natural phenomena. The fact that this religious story also has great value to us even though no one beleives in the God should give you a clue about the true nature of religion.
I think it is bound in the notion of knowledge preservation. Knowledge is the sum of a culture and has important lessons to pass on through storytelling.
As stated in this thread eventually the sum became too complex and therefore the questions became impossible to answer
>>879921
>people are so dumb
we can't prove anything outside our heads exists so if you think you're better than people who apply that same logic elsewhere then you can go fuck yourself.
>>879979
OP is asking why humans developed religious beliefs though, seeing patterns and attributing anthropomorphic agency to them seems like a good theory.
>>879979
Myths were also told for entertainment and expressing the virtues and vices of a culture
>>877942
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5_WdU5aGkA
It's a long video but it's a good one. Haidt is a well-respected scientist and he has some truly surprising insights.
>>879989
Considering virtually all human cultures began with animism it's not hard to deduce that early humans attributed spiritual agency to all things around them
>>877955
Othersite is leaking. Has been for a while.
>>880030
>all atheists = reddit
>all right wing = /pol/
>all left wing = tumblr
>all OP's = faggots
Pick one.
Cuz people are dumb, innit? I swear a great intellectual effort has went behind this post, and is NOT just a simple kneejerk reductionism.
t.Trillby Mc'Tip
>>879988
>can't prove anything outside our heads
>anything goes
Fucking monkey cults and their idiot subscribers.
>>879997
Some what on the right track.
Now realize that myths are just what we call religions no one beleives in. But it's not JUST culture, your Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung realized that there are universal things across all culture related to the subconscious mind.
>>880049
Ladies n' gents
The average argument for theism
>"you're a loser for not believing my story"
>>877942
To cope with anxieties and explain the changing and seemingly purposeless world around them. It gives people security not only in this world, but the next as most provide a metaphysical discourse. Lastly, most also frame a set of morals that aids social unity.
>>880073
Eh, most folklorists nowadays acknowledge the universalist ideas of Campbell were really stretching. Just like the altaic theory in linguistics. The differences in human stories are more important.
And Carl Jung was wrong about everything much like Freud
>>888888
KEK
>>877942
Why do atheists obsess about religion so much?
I don't own a pet, but I don't go around asking why people have dogs or cats or parrots or whatever. I don't go around praising "the petfree life" or asking on history boards why humans ever adopted cats or dogs into their lives or why animals exist at all or saying "I'm enlightened, not because of some cat's purring from me rubbing it's belly but because of my own petfree euphoria" or some shit like that.
I've seen some strange religious beliefs, but I've never seen anything stranger than people who don't believe in anything caring what other people believe in.
>>880089
>And Carl Jung was wrong about everything much like Freud
No one is right about anything.
>>879988
I bet I can prove my Katana (Mr. Daimyonagi) is real when I slap you on the ass with it like this...SLAAAAAAAP!!!!!!!!!
Our intelligence evolved too fast: we became aware that there is death and so we invented ways to cope with it.
>>880133
You're so smart.
>>880107
Owning a pet is a pretty simple concept to grasp. Actually believing in fairy tales as a grown adult is just WEIRD. I mean, imagine how you'd feel if you found out that everyone in your town believes in Santa Claus? And has a whole bunch of apparently reasonable arguments to back this belief up? Wouldn't you find that fascinating? Wouldn't you be tempted to constantly engage them in debate, to ask them questions about chimneys and the speed of reindeer-powered sleighs?
>>880107
I'm not an atheist, and I'm not judging or mocking at other people's beliefs, I'm simply curious.
>>880145
Most of the humanity, even today, has believed in a God or supernatural for over 30000 years at least. You're the outlier here.
>>880145
>Santa Claus
Why does absolutely everybody use this Santa Claus false equivalency when discussing religion? It's clear that Santa Claus was a very real person in Asia Minor back in 4th century Rome. Saint Nicholas' alleged habits of secret gift-giving have merely been transformed upon contact with Germanic pagans.
>>880192
>It's clear that Santa Claus was a very real person in Asia Minor back in 4th century Rome. Saint Nicholas' alleged habits of secret gift-giving have merely been transformed upon contact with Germanic pagans.
You realise I think the exact same about Jesus? That he was just some guy, and people have gotten completely the wrong end of the stick and ended up making a religion around him?
Santa is an excellent analogy for Christianity, it's a story that is absurd on the face of it that may be based on a kernel of truth.
>>880192
This is often the level of argument from the new atheists. Belief in a physical, north-pole dwelling, elf-employing, flying-reindeer-owning man who flies to every child's house in one evening is akin to belief in a God with all the properties attributed to Him by classic monotheism.
>>880192
>this Santa Claus false equivalency
Because it's not.
Both have been accused of being able to defy the laws of physics.
Both stories are completely false.
>>877942
people love to speculate and draw inferences. this leads them to religion-science where they love to think and hate to do. the cancer of the humanity is this clinging to pleasures
>>880213
There's no difference between Santa Claus, the Tooth fairy, the Easter bunny, or "god", and while Jesus may have been based on a real person, he was no more the son of any god than you are I are.
>>880219
>they love to think and hate to do
As opposed to Catholics, who love to do and hate to think.
>>880221
>he was no more the son of any god than you are I are.
And you know this positively, how?
>>880163
Humans didn't farm for the overwhelming majority of history too
>>880213
>Belief in a physical,
Who said physical? Santa is an immaterial being.
>north-pole dwelling,
It's a metaphor for "heaven" you dingus.
>elf-employing,
Elf, Angel, what's the difference?
>flying-reindeer-owning
Clearly a metaphor for weather and the winds.
>man who flies to every child's house in one evening
It's the called Miracle of Christmasby which we know He is the Lord.
>>880226
Because when you examine the history of mankind, and the nature of people to this day, the probability is overwhelmingly in favor of religions being little more than made fabrications and outright lies.
>>880226
It's logically absurd and he never claimed it anyway, so why WOULD you believe it?
>not believing in the Unseen paranormal powers of the universe
Enjoy hell, redditors
>>880245
>not knowing that by believing without evidence you are in fact failing god's test for humanity thus and only us smug fedora-tippers will escape hell
I'll send you a postcard, ya schmuck!
>>880239
LMAO
If religion is wrong why have most people believed in it, fedora?
Why does the bible make perfect sense?
>>880244
>It's logically absurd and he never claimed it anyway, so why WOULD you believe it?
Once people claimed it's logically absurd for the earth to revolve the sun. After all you can see the sun swipping the heavens in circular motion, what nonsense are you solarcentrics talking about?
>>880239
Please explain your statistical procedure of how you attached probability to Christ's divinity. Did you use the probability density function?
>>880250
I know you're just having a giggle, but the bible is self contradictory. It doesn't make perfect sense, but that room for discussion is what makes it a brilliant text.
>>880251
>Once people claimed it's logically absurd for the earth to revolve the sun.
Since that time we have found more and more evidence that supports the heliocentric view and not the nonsense the Bible claimed as facts. Similarly, everything we have learned about... everything... supports the position that fairy tales are never true, and nothing has supported your claim that nuh-uh, THIS fairy-tale is true FOR REALS.
>>880145
No. If I were in the situation you described, I'd judge for myself what I believe in.
>Wouldn't you be tempted to constantly engage them in debate?
No. Worst case scenario, I'd leave town. More likely though, if their beliefs aren't affecting my life in any way, I'd just ignore it, and gravitate towards people who do think closer to my beliefs if possible.
I mean this touches upon the leftist/collectivist mentality, you seemed to describe this horror scenario where everyone in town believes in something strange. Which seems to me to be actually a fear that everyone in town is different from you. Thus, your reaction is that either you must convert them or you engage them until they convert you.
I know for a fact that other people aren't like me, don't think like me, don't believe in the same things as me, etc. So, if tomorrow, I discovered that everyone in town believed the sky is purple, or that aliens are coming in 2017 or that it will never snow again for some reason, that's strange to me, but not scary. I don't really care what they think or that they are different.
>>880250
For the same reason they didn't know about the existence of North and South America for so many thousands of years, yarmulke, ignorance.
>>880251
Why? If you can't figure out your fellow man has been feeding people the same lines of shit across history, and cultures, since before the days when "Ra" the "sun god" was considered cool, then nothing I can do will help you.
Go ahead and LARP all you want.
>>877961
Recognizing religion as something humans naturally create is an alternate explanation to God being the source fo religion, which gets religious peoples' panties in a bunch.
Everything that's blatantly proven bullshit is allegory
Everything else is 100% literal
