re: #426 PT Barnum

There’s some science to show that belief in God (whatever form that may take) was necessary for humans to form societies. Without the Big (insert your preference here) upstairs to watch over us, nobody had any motivation to trod the straight and narrow.

The belief in a ‘god’ starts quite young when we view our parents as all knowing and all powerful. When we’re that young it is essential to our survival to follow instructions without question.

As our communities grew to sizes beyond our ability to track genetic relations and debts, we needed to develop practices that would diminish social friction. Religion gave us a method of codifying and enforcing those conventions. It also gave us explanations for events that we didn’t understand, had no control over and/or feared.

We’ve gone beyond those needs.