Where do You Think it all Came From?

[Nardone]

why do you think religion came around?
i think it was mainly to answer all the questions no one else could..  

[Eccentric Detective]

Pretty much. I think that people invented things so they had an explanation for them. The dark doesn't seem quite as frightening once you know what's in it. In the same way, when people know what will happen to them after they die, they feel a bit of peace. I know my consciousness will evaporate into nothingness, and my body will return to the earth. That is my peace.
Religion, the way I see it, is a collection of folktales people told each other because they were afraid of the dark.  

[fhbnfghnbfgbsnbg]

We learned in history class why the peasants of the midieval times were so accepting to religion: Their lives were terrible. They wanted something better to be waiting for them, and to know that what they were doing wasn't just for nothing.
So presumably, religion got its start off of that same feeling.  

[Dathu]

The G_A_U's Journal

The first step to understanding atheism is to understand the history of religion. The first forms of religion began in hunter-gather societies. At that time it was simply a creative appreciation of nature. The people, having minds and thoughts, placed similar minds and thoughts into the earth around them, anthropomorphizing them. They believed all things had spirits; rocks, trees, water, etc. Originally just an abstract thought, it changed dramatically when they found themselves in need of certain things from the spirits. They would pray to the trees when they needed fruit, beg the river to overflow with fish when they were short on game to hunt, and they asked the sky to rain when the lands became dry. Overtime, "official" people were selected to talk to these spirits. They were usually chosen because they were very wise, very old, or had luck in making favorable decisions. These people eventually became the first shamans.

Up to this point it was still nature being worshiped, but what happened to change that was favoritism. People who lived in dry lands began to view the spirits of rain as being the most important. Or people who had infertile crop lands would pray more to the god or gods of harvest (notice how abstract and specific to their needs the spirits have become). As their relationship with the spirits became more and more personal, the spirits began to take human form, probably to appear easier to approach. As certain gods became more and more favored, a hierarchy appeared in the spiritually realm, and the first seeds of monotheism were sown. Not only were some gods higher in rank, but some actually became gods of gods, though more often than not, they were viewed as parents. An example of this would be the Greek gods with Kronos as the lord of lords. Through time smaller gods simply became fazed out, and new religions began to only offer one all powerful god for worship.

But aside from the role of the gods, the role that these beliefs had in society began to change as well. In its early days religion was a simple way to beg nature for favors, but it eventually became a way to bring about unity. At first it only united small groups such as families and clans of a few dozen people, but later it unified entire communities of thousands. Now we can see large groups of people being bound by a common belief, and they began to identify themselves through their religion. As their numbers grew, the power of the shaman grew as well, and the first "governing officials" were born. With this power came a way to control, and the ways of living were the first to be controlled. Lifestyles and philosophies on morals were created to "please the gods." Over time these rules became more and more complicated and needed to be written down (the first bibles). As the number of followers grew, more officials were needed (the first orders). And now we have an organized religion and a religion based society. Only at this point religion is primarily a form of order and control where people of power wield the word of the gods like whips. You can see where it goes from there.

My thoughts exactly.  

[G4NTZ]

Dathu, that pwns. It all make perfect sence to me now.