re: #321 CuriousLurker

I suspect you are correct that new religions would appear in the absence of existing religion. There are several factors which I think would come into play.

People seem to be wired to see cause/effect relationships. So when people look at the world, it’s natural to ask if there is a cause. It’s the meta “Why?” that many religions address. Why does the world exist? Why am I alive, is there a purpose for my life? There is also an element of superstitious behavior (I did x and y happened, so if I want y to happen I do x) which gets institutionalized.

My spouse would also argue that people have a “spiritual” side, a need to connect with something greater than themselves, be it a god or a oneness with the universe.

Many people also don’t like to think. They’ve never considered constructing an ethical/moral framework to define their behavior. For those folks, having a set of standards imposed externally makes it possible to avoid actually having to create and justify a framework. This is the group who believe that atheists feel free to rape and kill because they don’t fear divine retribution.

Other people simply lack empathy and need a moral/ethical framework imposed on them to allow them to function in society. Basically, for those folks, this is how society controls their behavior.

Religion is also a useful tool for controlling populations and justifying the status quo, as in “I’m king by divine will and God wants you to do what I say”.

So I’d argue that religion serves a purpose at both the individual and societal level. Whether that is a good thing is a different discussion.