@Antifred

The making of choices to advance survival and perpetuation didn't begin with us. What proportion of such functions are mental vs. instinctual is almost impossible to determine in species with which we cannot share or exchange ideas. Perhaps it could have been more accurately expressed as thought system instead of concept.

@Antifred They show love and love and life manifest inseparably. It takes human societies to separate and qualify them. Emotion still isn't a system of thought, such as a 'religion'; or as I prefer calling them, theologies.

Interesting analogy. It's important to consider that evolution can not function with dilution. The dismantling of those things that do not function or serve no purpose is required. In terms of ideas and beliefs, this manifests itself in the rejection of other ideas, effectively rendering them immortal. In order to kill an old idea you must either plant both ideas and wait for the superior to overpower the other, hit it with overwhelming force, or corrupt it's basis for existence effectively starving it.
If you have seen the Pew research centers statistics on religious beliefs it clearly shows a trend away from religion in millennials, however closer inspections shows that most identify as "spiritual non denominational" rather than atheist or agnostic.

@Happy_Killbot no dismantling is required. things atrophy; species starve to death. there is no drive to evolve unless it is necessary, but if it's not necessary, that doesn't mean the thing that didn't evolve blows up. cockroaches are doing just fine, thanks, even if they've never built pyramids or written plays.

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@genessa I'm referring to the evolution of ideas not species. Ideas don't decay or starve to death, they are bulletproof.
Consider this example: If a company wants to have quality employees, they need to hire hard working qualified people who are a good fit with the culture, and fire people who are lazy or a bad fit. Only by doing both of those things can a company "evolve" into a better one.

If you only hire more people your company will end up paying people who aren't providing enough benefit to justify their paycheck.
If you only fire bad people work won't be done and your company will fail due to inefficiency or people will quit due to being overworked.

Where as species evolve by external pressures ideas evolve via deliberate action by entities exercising agency.

@Happy_Killbot you didn't SAY evolution of ideas, and your post didn't really indicate that you meant ideas, so how would we know? your example, by the way, isn't really evolution. you can use the word casually that way and everyone will understand what you mean, and it's okay to do that, but if you're trying to make an analogy to show how ideas can evolve, that's not a valid one, because that process you described is not even remotely similar to actual evolution. in actual evolution there is no dismantling, and i stand by what i said.

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@genessa Evolution: the gradual development of something, especially from a simple to a more complex form.
"the forms of written languages undergo constant evolution"

When an animal eats another organism, the consumed organism is digested down to the molecular level. A special protein, known as nuclease in humans, breaks down DNA that can then be absorbed and rearranged into human cells. That requires the dismantling of old things in order to make new things. Sick and weak animals need to die in order for strong healthy ones to survive. If it wasn't this way, there would be a regression to the median and no true progression could occur.

With ideas, the same thing has to happen. Good luck finding many people who think feudalism is a good idea for example. I don't mean the records should be destroyed, just that evolution of things requires the dissemination of old things. You can't keep adding new ideas to the old and expecting them to get better, you have to challenge old ideas with new ones and forget the ones that are no better or worse than the old ones and replace old ones with new ones as they are more capable, thus creating a feed back loop of progress.

Let me put this in a logical statement:
-If something evolved then it changed over time
-something that changed is not in it's original form
-therefore the original state no longer exists after time has passed

@Happy_Killbot original state no longer existing AFTER TIME HAS PASSED, yes. that is not dismantling. but whatever. and many times the original state does still exist.

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@icolan The reason I call it the religious impulse is because of that inexplicable spark of conscious awareness that fosters a sense of deep awe and wonder in the face of the overwhelming mysteries of reality. From that spark comes thrilling vision, and there arises the utmost motivation to live well, to invent, to create.

If, because of negative associations you dislike the religion word it is perfectly ok with me to call it something else. However, for me, calling it the creative impulse doesn’t tell the whole story.

The religious impulse is deeply embedded in the human psyche and is the source of all human creativity, science, art, etc.................................. That's has no basis in any truth. A religious belief has nothing to do with science, art or creativity. Many an atheist was a great artist, a great inventor, or created new technologies.

@grammy A religious belief is nothing but an opinion and has little or nothing to do with anything. I’m not talking about religious belief. I’m talking about our primal spark of awareness which brought to humanity a sense of reverence and awe for existence. It is religion in its purest form.

I doubt the monkeys would have the husband as the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the church.

In Islam, a dead man gets 72 virgins. A woman gets her husband back. (And generous as Allah is, if she married more than once, she gets to choose which husband she reunites with! Wow! How she gets along with the 72 virgins in paradise is anyone's guess.)

@greyeyed123 but I heard that all women become virgins again when they get to heaven

@girlwithsmiles Oh gawd....no thanks!

Hello Frosty, you are right of course, but it is something that they will not do, so it is up to us.
Read my answer with 'resserts' level 8

@dinoid - You are not going to convince a believer ...so why bother?

The post questions religion, and your response is about jesus.... look inside yourself and find the big picture. ... why are you here, really?

@frisbee212isn't religion all backed by jesus??

@frisbee212 We are here because our parents joined and our mother gave us birth. Our reason for living is up to each individual person.

No, I watched the first 17 min but gave up because I think he is going off in the wrong direction.

@cava Ok. Maybe the book? Sometimes the written method has more information.

I worry about the type of people we'll be left with if all the religious die out. I don't think the world has a substitute for them in place yet.

@brentan How so? Most of China and Russia have a lot of people and they look beautiful. Remember, initially there were only Adam and Eve and they got to eat the apple.

I think that that is both unsubstantiated and untrue.

@Metahuman Its substantiation is the grounds that no evidence of religion among any other earthly creatures has ever been found. Try that for starters. Rebut that!

That looks like an interesting book. I'm not familiar with Bergers work, but I'm going to have to look into it now. Just Googled it briefly. Reminds me somewhat of Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

There's still time. I'd better say my prayers.

@dinoid I was gonna say... report back dude !!!!!!!

that i really can not say for sure. what i can say for sure is that god was not, because he does not exist

Justify that there is in fact design in nature. What do you mean how the design in nature came about? It's not design. You're begging the question.

There's to many lies

@Gbgood there are too many...

do you mean they never evolved into anything or that nothing evolved into them? the former certainly isn't true, nor does science (which isn't a voice, but an area of study) say it is. i don't know anyone who says they magically appeared out of nowhere either. so i don't understand what you mean. can you specify? meanwhile, [britannica.com]

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HOw do we all know that protozoan have a evolutionary history? I think will take the science over your idea.

One of Descartes reasoning is... accepting his being as imperfect..yet, his imperfect mind can imagine a perfect Being, aka God, ..one attribute of perfection, would include existence...nonexistence, to a fault, is less than perfection.

...nothing to do with jesus, mind you...

Maybe mystical thinking is a phase a species or a culture goes through in the same way that it's one that a child goes through. Do you remember what it was like to see the world as a very young child? Everything's Magic. And it has to be you're not capable of understanding it in any higher way until you learn your way through it. Maybe our species has to do the same thing, and we're just the older kids whove learned a little logic and a little reason and look down on the Poor Little Tots that haven't got there yet.

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." --Philip K. Dick

RIGHT?!

To answer the question, Um... dolphins? Everything you said after that question has nothing to do with dolphins.

Thanks for your reply, I couldn't be a religious historian either, for the very fact it would be like reading 'Mid Summers Night's Dream' only worse, because religion is assumed to be true and nothing could be further from the truth. (Embarrassing) When I look at all the thousands of religions in the world, I recognize them for what they are. If you throw into the mix the atheists and agnostics, what you get is the variants of intelligence that an intelligent species needs to survive; this correlation gives purpose, because purpose is the food of intelligence. If we were all on the same level, there would be no intelligent species. Though the religious won't like this, it is something they will have to face in the future as our knowledge grows. The fact is, the variety of religions along with every other field of intelligent design is down to the laws of nature, it dictates the pattern. We are all, including religion, subjected to the laws that drives evolution. Yes even religion is the result of evolution. When religious people come up against something that they can't explain; in a desperate attempt at clarification they call it supernatural, but instead of clarifying they are doing the opposite. Imagine a world ruled by one religion with its opposed view of reality; it would destroy purpose, our species would soon be on the decline and on its way to extinction. This is why religion will eventually have to go; it's defeating its own purpose. It is going against everything that nature is telling us.

There are no wrong questions

Well said.