As a retired biology teacher I like to conjecture troubles with religion that the average person might miss. One of the worst is religion's denial that we evolved from lower animals. Awareness of such would help us understand life much better.
In nature alphas live longer and better than the weaker members. Consider a gigantic congregation of wildebeest. The strong migrate to the center of the herd pushing out the and weak to face the lions. It's nature's way of preserving the herd. This is what schooling in fish is all about; there's a strong DNA-driven urge to drift toward the center.
If humans understood their connection to nature, there would be less suffering. There is a strong impulse to be an alpha male in every kid. This is what bullying is all about in grammar school. To a religious person this is merely human nature or the work of the devil. But an enlightened (religion free) administration would recognize this fact and deal with the bully appropriately. The kid that wants to learn shouldn't at all be impeded by other kids with strong alpha genes. In nature the alpha male eats first, but not in a grammar school.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.This is just popular BS.
There's no advantage to "Alpha Males" in our species.
Just as there's no advantage in the Bonobo or Pygmy Chimpanzee.
The Chimps are male dominated, the Bonobo are a matriarchy.
The Bonobo are as successful as the Chimps, and they're close enough to us to prove the fallacy of the "Alpha Male" that's particularly endearing to older men that haven't achieved much in life and suffer from erectile dysfunction. You'll find them shopping for testosterone as if they weren't dick like enough already.
Willow_Wisp
Level 8
Nov 2, 2020
2
Sadly, too many young men still believe in the "alpha" myth. Bonobos are as close to us as chimps, and their motto is "Make love, not war."
@BirdMan1 Ahh you know of them 
It seems most Americans descended from Chimps, I prefer to think of myself as an evolved Bonobo.
Have you studied Jane Goodall?
Here's a sample:
But perhaps more startling, and disturbing,[according to whom?] was the tendency for aggression and violence within chimpanzee troops. Goodall observed dominant females deliberately killing the young of other females in the troop in order to maintain their dominance,[5] sometimes going so far as cannibalism.[10] She says of this revelation, “During the first ten years of the study I had believed […] that the Gombe chimpanzees were, for the most part, rather nicer than human beings. […] Then suddenly we found that chimpanzees could be brutal—that they, like us, had a darker side to their nature.”[10] These findings revolutionized contemporary knowledge of chimpanzee diet and feeding behaviors, and were further evidence of the social similarities between humans and chimpanzees, albeit in a much darker manner.
@Aristippus I have, and yes, humans and Chimpanzees are two peas in a pod.
@Aristippus I don't get why that is considered 'dark'.
Christianity should (and doesn't seem to) be bothered by the evolutionary process where Adam is concerned. The whole point of Jesus' sacrifice was to atone for the sin of Adam. No Adam, no need for Jesus.
I think there needs to be more circumspection where natural-born leaders are concerned. I remember Jordan Peterson talking about how alpha-males needed to create alliances to hold position. Bullying would get them killed. Richard Dawkins' idea that care among tribal groups sprung out of the need to keep everybody alive as much as possible for the survival of the group, not just the alpha-males.
brentan
Level 8
Nov 2, 2020
1
Hmm. I am also a retired biology teacher. While I absolutely agree with you that it is advantageous for humans to understand as best they can their role in nature, I am puzzled by a couple of things you say. I apologize for being picky here, but although humans most certainly evolved from earlier apes, who also evolved within evolutionary branches that lead ultimately back to simple single-cell organisms, the term "lower animals" is misleading. Humans did not evolve from any life form that currently exists, and neither did any other living species. There is no "Great Chain of Being," no Plato's scala naturae.
GarytheGondolier
Level 6
Nov 1, 2020
1
Furthermore, although in some species--such as elephant seals, wolves, and mountain gorillas--do have alphas, and alphas usually do have better access to food and mates, this is certainly not true of all species and may or may not help teachers and counselors understand and empathize with human children who bully other children. We agree that empathy is good, and I'm sure we agree that bullying is bad. Despite the fact that the current President of the United States is a known bully, an awful lot of bullies don't get very far in human society. I would venture that you could find a lot of bullies or former bullies on our prison yards.
Thanks for your insightful reply. I don't understand "Humans did not evolve from any life form that currently exists, and neither did any other living species" Richard Dawkins tells us that if a human holds the hand of a chimp and with the other hands holds his mother's, and the chimp does the same, and on and on, in about five miles after six billion years we will arrive at one female with the human line in one hand and the chimp line in the other.
Also the series of nucleotides, chimps and humans, are almost exact in over 99% letter for letter. (ACGTTATAC...etc) Pretty clear evidence we had a common ancestor. And chimps still exist.
There is an old meme in biology, about co-existence precluding ancestry.
@Aristippus I believe he was trying to say the common ancestor is dead.
I don't dispute Aristippus' post at all. I didn't know about the mechanism of seeking the center that makes the herd or school coherent - interesting! I would add that in highly social species, another layer of complexity is added by social cooperation. A group working well together can overcome an individual or a poorly organized group.
Also, any trait, such as muscle mass or body size or agressiveness, has it's costs. Greater muscle mass exacts higher energy consumption. Human evolution doesn't trend to ever bigger and stronger bodies. There are still plenty of short and small people thriving. A gene that provides an advantage in one respect can simultaneously be a disadvantage in another respect.
nicestuff
Level 7
Oct 31, 2020
2
I'm one of those short, small people thriving into my old age.
@BirdMan1 Pertinent to this consider that the runt ferret has an advantage of its bigger and heartier siblings. He or she can claw into narrower boroughs of prairie dogs or whatever prey. Natural selection only cares about what works. If only Adolf Hitler and his Nazi friends knew that.
@Aristippus My phrase is that "Tall people waste space."
A belief in evolution would make us equivalent to other animals, in the minds of those who believe in a divine creation. That, in turn would mean that we are mortal, as we see in all else with whom we share the planet. The prospect of our mortality is just what religion is for, easing the terror of death as a finality. The Theory of Terror Management is based on this.
BirdMan1
Level 8
Oct 30, 2020
1
You bring out an important consideration. To my mind, nonexistence isn't terrible. We return to the place we were before we were born. As atheist/writer Mark Twain said late in his life, nothing that happened before I was born bothered me in the least and nothing will after I'm gone.
It's the weird and scary concept of eternal hell that bothers and scares us into obedience.
@Aristippus Not us, them, but indeed!
People do not want to believe in Evolution because it is the slopy ugly answer as to why we are here. Theists would rather believe in magic (god) because it makes them them feel good and gives them hope.
jigsaw
Level 5
Oct 30, 2020
2
Hope is merely an illusion in the minds of the gullible and naive.
Very well said. The alpha changes from physical in our modern society. You can see it in today's politics. The weaker of us is pushed to the outside and the alpha still eats first. Often they eat the best.
DenoPenno
Level 9
Oct 30, 2020
2
Also important in this thread is the fact that the alphas live longer than the epsilons. Even in penguins the alphas feed in the middle, never the first to jump in the water replete with hungry leopard seals. Notice how in humans rich influential people just happen to die in their 80s and 90s, while the average life expectancy for a male is 76.
In primates, remote human ancestors, it's an even stronger gene. It's a lot healthier on the top branches than the lower.
Religion ... pure and faultless is this: to help widows and orphans in need and avoiding worldly corruption. James 1:27
No apparence of bullying in that religion, what religion are you talking about?
Word
Level 8
Oct 30, 2020
2
The point I was trying to make is that religion prevents us from seeing ourselves as a product of nature. We carry the same DNA and genes as other mammals. We all want to be the Alpha male.
Word:
@Aristippus What sort of religion stuff are you saying we are not of natural stuff?
We are from star dust some say. Otherwise, dust of the Earth or ground material. Basically, most any necessary elements could be apart of dust.
"...For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”." Gen. 3:19
Sure, its vague and not giving exacting scientific details on compounds and chemical reactions but true enought.
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