re: #320 freetoken

Here’s an answer, on that AMA, from Aslan which illustrates why I don’t take him seriously as far as scholarship on religion:

The assertion “In the hundred thousand year history of human religious experience…” is complete made up. First, for anyone serious about history, one has to deal with the question of whether there can be history before writing (in any form, including just pictures.) Secondly, there is absolutely no evidence on what people believed before the neolithic, as far as religious beliefs can be construed regarding “god” of any sort, monotheistic or not.

Aslan is just making this stuff up.

Not sure I agree with your conclusion. Many ancient civilizations had multiple gods. Celts, Mayan, Aztec, Incan, Sumarian, Egyptian, Indian, Chinese, Nordic, Germanic and more.
Many ancient cultures also recognized god as nature spirits (lots of evidence of that in Christian texts attempting to take over pagan holidays and rituals and remake them in a “Christian” aspect).
Evidence of neolithic burials are an indication, to me, that there was some sort of thinking process of respect for the dead, rather than just dragging the dead body out of the communal cave or wherever to keep the place from stinking up.
I suspect that your definition of proof for religion/god/gods (written/picture) is rather narrowly defined.
And I say that as someone who wishes truly there was an afterlife, but sees no evidence there is such. I hope to be pleasantly surprised with a grand new adventure when my time here on earth is finished, but I don’t waste my limited time here worrying about all the widely varying religious rules for a nebulous “heavenly reward”.