Why are people religious? https://bescapevelocity.runboard.com/t7814 Runboard| Why are people religious? en-us Thu, 28 Mar 2024 19:47:58 +0000 Thu, 28 Mar 2024 19:47:58 +0000 https://www.runboard.com/ rssfeeds_managingeditor@runboard.com (Runboard.com RSS feeds managing editor) rssfeeds_webmaster@runboard.com (Runboard.com RSS feeds webmaster) akBBS 60 Re: Why are people religious?https://bescapevelocity.runboard.com/p32386,from=rss#post32386https://bescapevelocity.runboard.com/p32386,from=rss#post32386Jordie Peterson has noted that Nietzsche went along that same direction, Spud. His "God is Dead" quote was meant to mean that society had become dismissive of religion in vaster and vaster numbers in Europe in his time. Almost completely replaced by deep faith in mans growing master of science. To him, based on his thoughts about history before his time and in his time, that was like you wrote. That as thoughts of God had filled whole lives for hundreds of years all during the growth of then-modern Europe out of the Middle Ages, most of that time, for most people as society developed - every corner of them involved in all aspects of society and personal interactions - Roman Catholic Dogma. At one point, parts of Europe developed filled with a very close - in many ways - version of that in various non-Catholic Church areas. That meant that Christianity filled person belief systems in many ways, and behabior - everything! "Disappear" Christianity, and the idea that something would end up filling the hole resulting from God being gone was clear to Nietzsche. He thought that that horrors would, not could, result. Considering two World Wars and the after-that horrors of two massive Commie countries, and the various cultural dysfunctions of various Western World societies - human slavery for sex and labor as a massive black market biz, bizarre porn lifestyles becoming mainstreamed, large-scale child and teen drug use... Yes, Spud, you and Nietzsche seem to have converged on the correct answer. nondisclosed_email@example.com (greendocnowciv)Thu, 16 May 2019 14:47:05 +0000 Re: Why are people religious?https://bescapevelocity.runboard.com/p32373,from=rss#post32373https://bescapevelocity.runboard.com/p32373,from=rss#post32373Somerset Maugham said, "When people give up believing in God, they don't believe in anything, they believe in everything." That sort of goes to Spikes' point! Hence, the big embrace in Europe of Marxism, and the Race-nationalism, that became national socialism. nondisclosed_email@example.com (spud100)Thu, 16 May 2019 12:00:49 +0000 Re: Why are people religious?https://bescapevelocity.runboard.com/p32359,from=rss#post32359https://bescapevelocity.runboard.com/p32359,from=rss#post32359I'd sooner believe in Santa Clause, another mythical being. Religions/Cults are a problem. Something like 97% of the wars fought around the globe are over religion. A spiteful God, a punishing God lets inhumane governments oppress people all over the world, including the USA. Where Santa Clause is a totally benevolent mythical being. I'd rather embrace that, than any religious/cult figures. nondisclosed_email@example.com (Tombstone1881)Thu, 16 May 2019 07:41:16 +0000 Re: Why are people religious?https://bescapevelocity.runboard.com/p32358,from=rss#post32358https://bescapevelocity.runboard.com/p32358,from=rss#post32358People want to believe that there is someone in charge, working behind the scenes to make things happen. It is the same reason conspiracy theories are so compelling to some folks.nondisclosed_email@example.com (luciddream00)Thu, 16 May 2019 07:33:49 +0000 Re: Why are people religious?https://bescapevelocity.runboard.com/p32356,from=rss#post32356https://bescapevelocity.runboard.com/p32356,from=rss#post32356Spike - evolutionarily, if some aspect of human society seems to have been universal as far back as we can see, up to today - it is likely to have been evolutionarily selected for, rather than likely to have persisted against evolutionary selection pressures. Culture appears to some researchers to be intertwined with biology regarding evolution. In both modern and in ancient times, when affluence "thickened and spread out more" among many and many more of a given society - a sort of "spiritual flux" set in. So did other sociological strictures on other types of behavior that had been strongly restricted when times were "tighter." Our already pretty "loosey-goosey" culture and other cultures around the world are contending with a 21st Century when all factors of society - spiritual and not - becoming more and more "up for grabs." Considering tech influences many of us can see, theres the possibility that both religious scholars and "non" will be among ever-more cyborgy teams of linked research groups who search for this answer. Such trends are on track now - more and better links to AI, and to co-researchers. Teams are already "one" in many ways. Once linked, "we" will take on a stronger importance. As AI's link to each other, individial ability to link to each other via those AI's will bring both the team members and their AI's together more and more tightly. Intellectual growth and competition will be part of this drive, as will commerce. More and more, I will compete with We. "We" may be who finally niggles out an answer on such deep human questions! Data keeps getting more numerous, and more searchable, and more "AI-manageable" in useful ways all the time. Of course, by the time "we" do - will that "we" note me - or any uncyborgy and unlinked folks as equal? We may revel in wonder - or look back at these days as lost days of freedom. nondisclosed_email@example.com (greendocnowciv)Thu, 16 May 2019 07:15:43 +0000 Re: Why are people religious?https://bescapevelocity.runboard.com/p32349,from=rss#post32349https://bescapevelocity.runboard.com/p32349,from=rss#post32349My faith is really simple now. It happened like this: Faith After I wrote that essay, Wordpress featured it and thousands of people came to read it. That is why is has so many comments. I take it that God liked the idea. nondisclosed_email@example.com (Spikosauropod)Thu, 16 May 2019 01:09:57 +0000 Re: Why are people religious?https://bescapevelocity.runboard.com/p32348,from=rss#post32348https://bescapevelocity.runboard.com/p32348,from=rss#post32348When you consider the amount of energy people devote to religious practices, one would certainly expect evolution to select against it. Maybe we evolved to believe in God. But how much simpler would it have been for evolution to evolve us to not need to believe in God? In any case, believing in God must be a good idea. If evolution thinks the majority of people need to believe in God, who are we to argue? Believe what it tells you or risk whatever consequences evolution has discovered will befall you. I know what happens to people who do not believe in getting vaccinated. Belief in God is apparently vaccination against something! A long time ago I discovered that when I try to not believe in God I feel "empty". More recently, I have come to realize that the universe just does not work without assuming some kind of higher intelligence. The math and logic of an "accidental" universe just do not work out. Science seems to be gradually catching up to this fact. Many scientists resort to remarkable gymnastics to avoid the inevitable, but they are collectively being forced to accept the truth. nondisclosed_email@example.com (Spikosauropod)Thu, 16 May 2019 00:59:16 +0000 Why are people religious?https://bescapevelocity.runboard.com/p32345,from=rss#post32345https://bescapevelocity.runboard.com/p32345,from=rss#post32345https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/01/why-are-people-religious-a-cognitive-perspective?fbclid=IwAR3w3IljltjZv3R1cS7Pk2EmyGh8GmLDH-Sl17xg1sZyQ488omjkbTl2BMw The quick and easy answer to why people are religious is that God – in whichever form you believe he/she/they take(s) – is real and people believe because they communicate with it and perceive evidence of its involvement in the world. Only 16% of people worldwide are not religious, but this still equates to approximately 1.2 billion individuals who find it difficult to reconcile the ideas of religion with what they know about the world. Why people believe is a question that has plagued great thinkers for many centuries. Karl Marx, for example, called religion the “opium of the people”. Sigmund Freud felt that god was an illusion and worshippers were reverting to the childhood needs of security and forgiveness. A more recent psychological explanation is the idea that our evolution has created a “god-shaped hole” or has given us a metaphorical “god engine” which can drive us to believe in a deity. Essentially this hypothesis is that religion is a by-product of a number of cognitive and social adaptations which have been extremely important in human development.nondisclosed_email@example.com (Papa Guinea Pig)Wed, 15 May 2019 23:53:48 +0000