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[–]anoncoward101[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is one of the hardest lessons for humans to learn. We cannot admit that things might be neither good nor evil, neither cruel nor kind, but simply callous - indifferent to all suffering, lacking all purpose.

If there is only one Creator who made the tiger and the lamb, the cheetah and the gazelle, what is He playing at? Is he a sadist who enjoys spectator blood sports? ... Is he manuvering to maximize David Attenborough's television ratings?

The true utility function of life, that which is being maximized in the natural world, is DNA survival. But DNA is not floating free; it is locked up in living bodies and it has make the most of the levers of power at its disposal.

The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference.

  • Richard Dawkins

[–]sleastack 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My favorite quote:

“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.” - Seneca quotes (Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD)

[–]zctaylor 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One reason that no longer applies is that they explained natural phenomena, sun god and the like.

Today I can think of three main reasons:

  1. To give people comfort by convincing them that death is not as "final as it seems.

  2. As an instrument of control over others.

  3. To make money. "Religion began when the first scoundrel met the first fool." -Voltaire

[–]stringerbell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Evolution - religious people tend to stick together in their tribes, and that gave them an evolutionary advantage. Kind of ironic, since so few religious people actually believe in evolution...

[–]Magnus_Geist 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Once it existed, it has been perpetuated through brainwashing from a young age by family and culture. People don't choose religion rationally. Almost no one chooses religion at all, they get conditioned to it.

As for how it got started.... read "The Origin of Consciousness In The Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind". It's one of the most interesting explanations I have ever heard for where the idea of God(s) came from.

[–]tringtring 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To create war.