How did religion come about? (Not a thread for those believe)

[Soubriquet]

I’m an atheist. I do not believe in God, Allah, Moses, Yahweh or any other deity.

It does make me wonder at times though, is how someone managed to convince the entire world that this happened and this is how it happened.

So, how did the so called word of god come about and why do so many people believe it?

From the stars and sun, I.e. Jesus is the sun, Orion's belt is three Kings following the sun.. etc.

I think we have always had Gods because we see and we wonder...........

I would assume that's to do with empires and war. I don't know the exact history but you had the Ottoman Empire then the Byzantine war in that area.

What are the Tenets of Wokeness? 😄

As far as I know all Stone Age people practiced some form of Shamanism.

So I don’t think religion started as a way yo control people, so much as an attempt by people to control the scary natural world that dictated their lives, so things like making the Lion Man statue as a way of taking some of the power of the Mountain Lions that surrounded them.

Then I think that got a bit more formalised, often into the idea of a mother goddess, and ancestral worship, and things like that. All a way of finding meaning and control in a terrifying natural world that hit you with floods and famine.

Things like full on religions like Christianity needed more of a social structure, and then become a controlling force within it, and yes eventually a way to control people.

By that area, I meant Greece

I've always thought of it as two fold. A way of explaining the gaps in science, and a structure that those powerful in a local level used to organise, control and embed social "rules". From there it became a way to belong, and to "other" people which is something humans love to do.

I remember an older lady in a village known for its religious core I once visited told me "everyone goes to church, its how you show you are part of the community and in return the community supports you." She was true to her word, I've never seen local support or a sense of community like it.

Hope you don't mind my commenting as I am a believer, but have always felt organised religions are just ways society seeks to control the ordinary person.

Nobody knows about anything 'post mortem' though, that's a crazy argument. Nobody who is alive has a fcking clue. So can't say. Nuts. We can all live 'christian' lives while we're here, that's the best we can do, but worrying about post mortem is just silly. When we're dead, we're dead. We hope that we have left a good footprint on the world. I hope i will.

I watched a fascinating documentary once (which I can't remember so would love to rewatch) about the roots of religion and how some stories relate to the night sky.
Something about star of Bethlehem being Sirius, Mary the virgin, was the constellation of Virgo and the 3 wise men were the stars in Orion's Belt.

Really interesting. It was on Netflix so I'll have to hunt around to see if I can jog my memory.

Gods/goddesses/deities came about as people tried to explain things. That developed into worshipping the god and performing rituals to please them. E.g. performing some sort of rite so that a god would make it rain and crops would grow. Organised religion developed from that.

As far as I know, all societies had gods and religious beliefs. They weren't the same gods because societies developed in different places but they were all remarkably similar.

No I don't, but it's not surprising that you like to tell pther people what they believe.

I don’t mean to offend anyone but my genuinely held belief on this is like any other cult. Some just got large at a time when people had narrower external information or people to challenge it. Also people like being part of a group and they like order in an uncertain world. I can’t think of a single human society that hasn’t worshipped something or someone. Agree with pp its built in. It’s probably part of what makes us successful as a species, shared co-operation and joint enterprise or believing in and working towards common things.

I think even in ancient times the shamans wielded a lot of power over people, though. That’s not an invention of Christianity, they were treading a pretty well-worn path by then.

I think it came about because people want explanations and answers for things they don't understand.

Read Sapiens which outlines how we became religious through a way of consoling ourselves and making sense of life and also a way of ensuring lineage after the Industrial Revolution as before that lineage wasn’t so important as not many had anything once they did control through religion became more important

It's also an answer to those 'unknowns' like your sixth sense, or perceiving a sense or energy of something. Most of us have had experiences like that and don't know what to put it down to.
For some, it's a sign that there are forces out there that we cannot explain.

@continentallentil "As far as I know all Stone Age people practiced some form of Shamanism."

Is there any archaeological
evidence for this?

Making sense of the world - especially the wonder of the stars, the weather, the universe. Imagine a world with no electricity & no understanding of what creates day & night. Then, I imagine people told stories to articulate the spiritual sense that they got from the world around them. Every culture, I think, has imagined origin/creation myths. I'm quite sure that's the heart of it. Things like power & control came later I suspect.

"They wouldn't do that to a god."

But the Bible is full of people doing exactly that! Look at the Israelites in the desert. The story shows them experiencing a miraculous escape from Egypt and praising God and we're being guided by a pillar of fire and smoke, but as soon as there is anything stressful they are moaning about wanting to be back in Egypt where there were delicious cucumbers and worshipping golden calves etc

Look at the gospel stories of Jesus. People followed him and were amazed by his miracles but as soon as he said something difficult they walked away. People in his own town wanted to throw him over a cliff. One of his core followers betrayed him for money when he realised he wasn't going to be a military saviour, rescuing Israel from the Roman occupation.

I think this is precisely what often fallible human worship tends to be like.

Good to know @Parsley1234, I will take a read. Interesting thread OP. I have discussed this with my husband. We like talking about this sort of thing some would jeer at us. I agree with a lot of the reasons given. I'm a Catholic but I hate church due to bad experiences. I suppose I question every aspect of religion. I don't think it's for me and often wonder how it all started.

Quoting fiction doesn't prove anything, the bible doesn't even mention football! 😉

People enjoying a game is not the same as worshiping a god. You may worship your heroes, doesn't mean everyone else does.

If you are an atheist then all accounts of people interacting with God have to be fiction surely.
Even as fiction, the Bible shows something of how people who wrote it thought about God and they wrote about people doing exactly what you said people wouldn't do to a god. They obviously believed people would behave like that and they were people with a belief in a god.

Whatever the quality of worship ( to a god, footballer, musician, ) people will often change their mind if things aren't what they wanted/expected. Not everyone, all the time of course!

I have a private theory that it started with primitive man, and rainbows. How non earth would they have explained them? There must obviously be some hugely powerful being up there who sends them to show he’s not angry any more - but obviously he was very angry when he sent that thunderstorm. So let’s try to pacify him with gifts - some fruit, or we could maybe sacrifice a virgin.

myths are a natural part of the human experience.

Imagine being a human without the advantage of accrued generational knowledge and scientific advancements, living in a world where your very survival to the next day was questionable. You would look for explanations for how the world worked to help understand and impart what knowledge you were gaining. Those stories would teach survival skills and also
provide comfort.

then society begins to advance and there are people who see that they can start to manipulate those stories to their advantage and religions are born.

As cumulative generational knowledge advances, the need for those stories becomes less important. The ability of those who seek to manipulate and control loses hold.

just as religion is a natural
part of human development, outgrowing religion is the obvious next step.

I imagine there are sentient species throughout the universe who have faced this same issue. Religion as a part of development and then the growing pains of discarding its constraints. We won’t be free of it in our lifetime, but if humanity survives, it will disappear eventually.

Don't forget how much money there is in religion and controlling the masses.
The wealth in the Vatican and earnings from pilgrimage to Mecca are quite vast.