Ie what religion is and how it works.
Ok, initially, religion started because 'Great Big WooWoo Did It' was a convenient explanation for primitive people who were generally too busy finding food and staying alive to investigate stuff like why the sky is blue and how babies happen.
Then, at various points quite early on in the history of human societal development, the following things happened, not necessarily in this order.
Some people came up with a rather pretty allegory about the cycle of life in an agricultural community ie The Imaginary Friend is born, grows up, dies and is reborn - crops grow, are harvested and cut down and then they grow again.
Some unusual events and/or unusual actions of individuals made such good stories that they were passed on, and as they were passed on they got edited and varied and tidied up into neater stories.
Some people worked out that claiming to have an imaginary friend with a big stick and/or a special present for the obedient was a good way of making other people do what they were told. Some other people reckoned that they could come up with an even better imaginary friend with an even bigger stick and/or present.
That's about it. Unfortunately a lot of people are still content to have their thinking done for them, so Great Big WooWoo provides them with a pick and mix bag of excuses for helping the deserving rather than the undeserving poor, stealing territory and resources from those who prefer Great Big BumBum instead, and keeping the lower orders in line with promises of wonderfulness after they're dead ie stuff which the upper orders are not going to have to deliver.
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A Religion Primer.
16 replies
SolidGoldYESBROKEMYSPACEBAR · 29/11/2012 01:46
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