Well that’s the popular folklore, but it’s as much superstition as belief in ghosts is. The actual science is a lot more complicated, and a lot more time-consuming to understand, as is always the case when comparing science to popular belief.

@skado l think they like to make it complicated. We both know folks we consider intelligent who believe. I ask them why and they say that is how they were raised. That early indoctrination is very difficult to shake
, especially when told all of their lives to never question it. The power and control issues are obvious.

@Sticks48
The scientists I’m talking about aren’t believers. They’re all atheists. What the believers believe is irrelevant.

@skado l wish what believers believe was irrelevant. Unfortunately, what believers believe carries more rate in this world than what scientists believe or don't believe.

@Sticks48
I didn’t mean their belief is irrelevant to everything - just to the science. The scientists aren’t complicating things. They’re discovering how it all works, which happens to be very complicated.

@skado l afee, bur l dion't fnd it complicated at all.

@Sticks48
Which scientists in the field of religious studies have you read?

@skado l don't have to. A ancient people wondered why bad shit happens. Swk things drkve it the most. omeone came up with the idea of a creator. How do keep the creator happy, that and most humans fear of mortality. Those two things drove it the most.

@Sticks48

Folklore has no need of science. That gives you a lot in common with the religious folks.

@skado It isn't folk lore. It is anthropology and history. Does it geymt more complicated yes. They had no police m, so religion in many cultures was used as a way to control folks. I am sure out of the thousands of religions humans have come up with that many and maybe most were peaceful and harmless to those out side of their religions. This is not so with the three Abrahamic religions. They are the most long lasting perpetrators of war, torture, suppression, and murder in the history of the planet. Since they are still up to the same old shit, those are the ones that concern me. Those are the ones l paycattention too. As for why people in the 21st Century still hold onto that crap, they can explain away and as an Atheist with the ability for critical thought, l don't care whatever the reasoning, it is really stupid. It is beyond stupid when we know so much about the Universe even though there is so much more we don't know. When l talk to Christian friends it is all about their indoctrination starting when they were young and they can't shake it. It is still about heaven and hell for them. Sorry, but that is weak mindedness. If they knew nothing of religion or God until they reached the age of reason and you presented them with Bible stories and the concepts of heaven and hell , how many do you think would buy into it? Most wouldn't even think it was good fiction because it ain't. I have nothing in common with them. I didn't even buy into the folklore they tried to pass off to us as history when l was in school. Not all scientific studies are worth the paper they are printed on. Some are bogus as hell as they are just trying to get government grant money. When they do that they have to make it sound more complicated than it is. The crux of most religions is still the hope of an afterlife and for some it is about the hope of seeing loved ones they have lost. The history might be complicated, but the ideas behind it are still not that complicated.

@Sticks48
Please share your sources with me so I can get up to speed. Who is your favorite anthropologist and your favorite historian?

@skado Information and observation gathered through 75 years of living. I know sometimes you like to complicate things that are not that complicated. When it comes to religion, while it is understandably complicated in the ancient world, with people not even knowing where the Sun went at night, in today's world it is silly and dangerous, period. Mortality is the main driver for the followers and power for the leaders, no more, no less.

@Sticks48
So… not anthropology or history, not science - just personal experience. Who needs science anyway. We can join the religious who depend entirely on personal experience.

@skado All science is not correct or accurate. Believers don't believe because of experience. They believe because of indoctrination beginning when they are very young or because of some experience like AA where they trade one crutch for another. You know damn well in the modern world immortality is the big driver of religion. Death is the boogeyman.They all have some version of an afterlife. I think you just like to argue. I'm done. Have a nice day.

@Sticks48
Indoctrination is part of personal experience. The thing I find so fascinating about atheists is that they claim to prefer facts, reason and science to superstition, but when pressed for the “science “ behind their position, they’re “done”.

Indoctrination can happen at any age, and can come from atheistic sources as easily as from theistic sources. Talk about trading one crutch for another!

I do very much like to argue. It’s the foundation of democracy, law, and my favorite - science.

Believe whatever gives you comfort, but if you go to a public forum claiming your beliefs are true and expect people to accept them without evidence, someone might mistake you for a believer.

Thanks for chatting with me.
Best regards.

@skado Since there is not the tiniest bit of evidence that any God or Gods do exist. I don't need science to refufte the claim. You like to argue for arguments sake, not to learn.

Might be difficult to measure, from a historical perspective. From an evolutionary perspective, whatever works in favor of survival of the species gets replicated, and whatever doesn’t gets discarded.

I think it’s best not to think of religion as any particular religion we are familiar with, but as H.sapiens’ evolved capacity for creating and modifying religions to suit the current need.