Thread: The Origins Of Religion?

It started as a relationship between Adam and God, and then it sort of soured after the whole fruit thing.

It is trying (adn in some places sucseeding) to become a relationship again.

My guess is that religions originated as honest attempts to understand the world. In other words, they were the first attempts at science. Of course, back then they didn't have the knowledge or technology like we do today. Because of their limited knowledge and resources there was no way they could verify their theories (not necessarily that they were being scientific, anyway). I guess from then on it was spread as being absolutely true because they couldn't tell that it wasn't. People became afraid of their gods and made sure their children were, too. Throw in some new religions popping up occasionally with different rule sets and gods and the odd modification here and there just for good measure. The rest is history.

Originally Posted by Keeper

It started as a relationship between Adam and God...
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Oh, the scandal!

Hmm I was hoping on more replies...

I doubt anyone will agree with "my" theory... Well it's not really mine too be honoust After a lot of reading on the subject I found the entheogen-theory (vegetable drugs) a very plausible one. Definitly after trying it myself

I haven't taken a "heroic" dose yet but I allready saw mindblowing visuals while tripping. Some state you can hear voices and have visions if you take LARGE dosages (I do not recommend this ). Appareantly the Book of Revelations was written after a trip, I was looking after a decent "mainstream" source but I can't find one right now but there are enough books written on the subject.

Any other theories? I'm curious! And I'm definitly curious after the opinions of the "hardcore-religion people" (excusez moi pour le mot) !

Religions are originated where people needed explanation for things they couldn't understand. It might be events of nature, it might be some mushroom trip ..
It comes down to what Mark says ... it's an attempt to try to explain what we can't grasp.

Originally Posted by braha_kahn

Perhaps you think religion was just invented to gain control over the people?
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That's quite obvious to me that I don't even muse on it.

i think it stemmed from people on mushrooms and their "Visions"

A religion can almost all ways be connected to an other religion. Islam and christianity both came from Jewism. The Jewish religion is the oldest of those three Monotheisms, then around 70 A.D. some people began to believe in the messiah the old (Jewish) testament spoke of, and wrote their own ideas down (a few centuries later being put together, by the roman emperor Constantine, tpgether with the old testament to make the bible that looks like the one we know now, that allso turned christianity in a real religion instead of a cult.) Later (vaguely around 500 A.D if I recall correctly) some people began to believe in Mohammed as the main phopet of god (Allah) and the other stuff what comes with the Islam, and they wrote their own book.

That is how Jewism, christianity and the Islam relate. Jewism is sure to be traced back to other religions too. Alot of 'pagan' religions/cult around 0 A.D. share Alot of things with the gospels, such as a sort of messiah that resurrects, even that person entering Jerusalem with palm leaves or whatever the new testament said, that too was written down before by pagans.

Almost all religions relate, like roman and Greek were just about exchangeable. Also alot of compromises are often made when an area 'changes' it religion. The roman emperors just made sure alot of the Germanic religious days were on the same say as the new christian ones, just to please the people so they would not riot. Not like jesus really was born on 25th of December, the exact date of the Germanic fest that involved christmastree-like branches. ^__^

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The very history of religion makes it greatly unlikely that one religions view is the 'one, true , 100% right' one.

I agree with a few people on here. It's simply a way to explain things we don't understand. And I think from there is where it was perverted into a tool to control people.
Humans used to think that thunderstorms were gods fighting in the skies because they couldn't explain it. We now know that it has to do with weather, hot and cold air, vacuums, yadda yadda. So, Zeus died.
Humans used to think that the Sun was pulled across the sky by a Chariot, or by Ra, something along those lines. We now know the Earth goes *around* the Sun, and it only appears to move across our sky. So, Ra died.
As science and knowledge progress, our questions get bigger, so our answers became bigger. Instead of just wondering how the Sun does what it does, we now wonder where did it ALL begin. Once science has found this explanation, the God of Christianity dies.
It may even be that we already know these truths scientifically, but our backward human race who has believed in dieties for so long simply couldn't handle the truth. Billions of people beleive in some form of god or gods, and for that to be proven wrong would upset a whole lifetime of programming from their church, not to mention the things in their life that they may have ascribed to divine intervention, i.e.: "I was in a wreck that should have killed me but I didn't get a scratch! Thank you, jeebus!" Nope, just physics. It happens a lot. People fall from planes and hit the ground and live. Physics. Not consistent. Not everyone that falls from the sky will live upon impact. Same way that if you throw 1000 religious nuts out of an airplane, SOME will live, most will die. They can pray all they want, but it all comes down to physics and probability.
So, they've convinced themselves through events in their lives that their particular god is protecting them, they've been programmed by their culture, media, and their church for faith and belief, so to find out that it isn't real would crush them.
Religion is a huge crutch for people who can't deal with reality. Especially people with min wage jobs, 4 kids, an abusive husband, they have the luxury of thinking, "Wow, I'll have a great afterlife for suffering through this shit as long as I believe in (insert religious diety)". If they didn't have that crutch to get them through the days, months, years, and decades, they'd probably end it all themselves. Or, do what people don't WANT to do: Go out and change your life *yourself*. They *want* to give away responsibility for their lives, say they have no control and it's all God's plan. Otherwise they are their own masters and people are lazy and will have to hold themselves accountable. And if people kill themselves because their lives suck so bad, the governments that control them lose labor, they lose taxes, they lose potential military force. It's in governments interest to keep their people alive and making tax money, so they (believing in it or not) continue to feed their religion to the people with these unbreakable laws that are punishable by an eternity in hell (or whatever punishment fits that particular religion).
Also, the religions and cultures of the world have a lot more to potentially lose if science proved them wrong. They no longer have these imaginary rules to keep people from behaving like they don't have these rules, and they also lose billions of dollars of religions products, tithes, offerings, televangelists, the list goes on and on.
So, we have to evolve as a species before anything like proof of where we came from can be released. Our brainwashed planet just couldn't handle it.
But I think it should be released. Anytime two religions want to fight each other to the death is a fine day by me.
Also, you can think of it this way. With all the different religions, with different gods, some many gods, different views on treatment of people, women, animals, all the conflicting ideas that are out there, that they CANNOT all be RIGHT. But they CAN all be wrong.