In my continuing effort to understand why so many atheists and agnostics (the people one would expect to be more science-friendly) deny any evolutionary basis for religion, I have searched for current and cutting-edge (not antique) scientific research that supports that view, without success.
I do realize that confirmation bias haunts us all, so I may not be as successful in my search as someone whose worldview is more aligned with that thinking and who may be more familiar with the relevant literature.
So I am hoping anyone who holds the evolution-free hypothesis of religious development will direct me to the scientific literature upon which they base their orientation. I also welcome input by my hominid cousins whose capacities limit them to chirping, grunting, ad hominem remarks, personal insults and feces-slinging, because it is always entertaining to watch how proudly they display their ignorance and churlishness.
For the rest of you (the majority I’m sure) I will share, in the spirit of reciprocity, my latest findings that appear to me to represent the current scientific thinking on the matter which goes some distance toward resolving the perceived conflict between a purely by-product stance and a purely adaptationist stance. But whether by-product or adaptationist or institutionalist, all of the current hypotheses that I have been able to locate are founded on an evolutionary basis rather than an it’s-just-a-bad-idea-that-won’t-go-away basis.
So please share some of those scientific papers that helped inspire your confidence that the development and continuance of religious behavior in humans for 60,000 years had nothing to do with evolutionary forces. Thanks!
PDF here:
[degruyter.com]
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9
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My opinion: there is no evolutionary cause for religion, and religion has not evolved at all. From the first parent telling a bed time story to their child about a fantastic being that loves them and will keep them safe to make them feel loved and safe, it is all about the "self" feeling good. A byproduct of this is "hate the other" who has a slightly different fantastic being which threatens MY feeling good. We would all think it a little strange for someone to believe in Santa Clause after a certain age. Should be the same with god beliefs.
I was asked once why I closed my heart to god. I replied: why did you close your heart to Santa Clause ? It has always been about the SELF feeling good. Nothing more
Leetx
Level 7
Feb 5, 2022
0
actually... ALL gods would be cruel.. if, for example, you didn't earn their love by following their rules...you know like treating your slaves poorly, or whatever. And, of course the enemy of your god is your enemy also, ( witches, demons, etc) still.. it is all about self image and repentance when you stray from whichever god rules you broke. god is pretty much your projection of your best self onto an imaginary friend.. exactly like "being good" so Santa, (back to that) will bring you presents. same shit @Matias
Certainly religion evolved. I have witnessed it evolve in my lifetime. Many modern claims of religion were not there just a few short years ago. The basic reason is this. They just keep making it up. As our species moves ahead in every front we also find new and more strange religious beliefs, all complete with increasing denominational growth.
When I was a teen an Evangelical preacher had "flying saucers" tied in with Satan and the book of Revelation, claiming that he had seen a "saucer girl" and later found her working in a cafe. She denied having ever have met him. Just what all this meant I am not sure, but the man fabricated a story to convince us that flying saucers are of the devil.
Yes, religion evolves and has evolved. Anyone remember when social security was the "mark of the beast?"
DenoPenno
Level 9
Feb 5, 2022
0
This thread is not about whether religion itself evolves, but whether humans evolved with a capacity for religious behavior.
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