Manon, if a number of religious types are just going through the motions (which I suspect is true) then does this help us pin down exactly what benefit religion brings? To me that would suggest the sense of belonging, the tribal instinct.
″...religion must have evolved because it bound tribes closer together...”
I think it’s important to bear in mind that unlike today, religion was once pretty much indistinguishable from tribe. Profession of belief in Local Happy Agent was just part of life, not a subject for debate. Socrates would certainly agree, as would Copernicus. It’s only comparatively recently that religion has been separate from nationhood or tribe, and its central tenets questioned. The fact that it’s still around in a weakened state could simply be analogous to, say, our fight or flight mechanism. Or an appendix.
Eliezer, that’s ‘accursèd’, counterintuitive though it may be. Rare enough for a literature graduate to have any authority around here so I thought I’d speak up! :p
Manon, if a number of religious types are just going through the motions (which I suspect is true) then does this help us pin down exactly what benefit religion brings? To me that would suggest the sense of belonging, the tribal instinct.
″...religion must have evolved because it bound tribes closer together...”
I think it’s important to bear in mind that unlike today, religion was once pretty much indistinguishable from tribe. Profession of belief in Local Happy Agent was just part of life, not a subject for debate. Socrates would certainly agree, as would Copernicus. It’s only comparatively recently that religion has been separate from nationhood or tribe, and its central tenets questioned. The fact that it’s still around in a weakened state could simply be analogous to, say, our fight or flight mechanism. Or an appendix.
Eliezer, that’s ‘accursèd’, counterintuitive though it may be. Rare enough for a literature graduate to have any authority around here so I thought I’d speak up! :p