Oolon Murgatroyd’s demonstration of the probability of a deity
Religion is a largely destructive force, used as a cover for tribalism
Religion perpetuates itself through dependence on a lack of evidence i.e. faith and on belief in purely received knowledge – neither of which may be challenged thus absenting itself from the possibility of disproof
Inspired by R4 series Living With The Gods: where does religion come from and why is it so persistent?
- Essentialism
- Need for explanation of natural/physical phenomena
- Seeing patterns and purpose
- Community/togetherness but
- Justification of tribal competition & war
- Need to believe in life after death
- Means of appealing to apparently whimsical power over weather, food crops etc
- Ritualisation of originally sensible behaviours
- Power – dominion by a priest class via claim of unique access to truth leading to
- Sacred texts
Useful examples of how a strong religion keeps a country & its people backward and miserable. In Heinrich Harrer’s Sieben Jahre In Tibet he cites the lack of automotive transport (p144) and medical training + care (p172) because of the religious authorities’ insistence on observing ancient traditions. I’m sure there must be other such examples from countries such as India, Iran etc.
Teleological Thinking
Found while searching for articles on correlation between theism & belief in conspiracy theories was this obliquely related but nevertheless interesting one on teleological thinking as part of an explanation for why some people support ludicrous beliefs. And theism is just one of them. Here’s the original research article which is really a psychological one although oddly published in a biology journal.
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