We have had religion for as long as we have existed as a species. Our natural instinct is to seek for a source, an explanation of the phenomena we experience. In our ignorance, we attributed natural forces we couldn't see or understand to a
god or gods. The presence of religion has shaped society for as long as societies have existed. The laws and traditions were built upon and incorporated into religious ideology. Behavior that was detrimental to society as a whole, or to the power structure specifically, were named as "sin" and were also incorporated into social life as well as religious doctrine. Religion was law and morality and piece of mind. To question the law was tantamount to breaking the law; to believe in different laws or gods was anathema to the smooth functioning of society. Thus, questioning the validity of belief was dangerous and, until shockingly recently, was dealt with in the most severe ways imaginable: torture and execution.
It is no wonder then that we have a deep-seeded social impetus to believe in a god. Society was built on this, after all. This is why even those of us who are otherwise rational still entertain the idea of a god somewhere "out there" (or in here or wherever). It is required by society. Some people take a large view and say that existence itself is god. Others say the idea of god can't be disproved so it must be entertained as a possibility.
This sort of belief is not harmful to others, unlike the more concrete beliefs that encourage entitlement and persecution, so I have no problem with them, per se. But my question, my point, is why do you feel the need to name anything god at all? My contention is that the desire to name a god is a social instinct. There is no reason, seeing the wonder of nature, to then name that God, or to claim the ineffable as god. This is an extra step in our process of understanding, giving a name to something we already have a name for and laying all the extra trappings of superstition upon it. This mandate to believe in some sort of god is imposed on us by history, by the evolution of society, but it has no basis in rationality.
I urge anyone with a willingness to proclaim a god, no matter how far removed from the gods worshiped by the devout, to question their own motives for this desire. I contend that it's something you don't need to do, but feel compelled to because of an all-but-inborn stigma attached to non-belief.
It is no wonder then that we have a deep-seeded social impetus to believe in a god. Society was built on this, after all. This is why even those of us who are otherwise rational still entertain the idea of a god somewhere "out there" (or in here or wherever). It is required by society. Some people take a large view and say that existence itself is god. Others say the idea of god can't be disproved so it must be entertained as a possibility.
This sort of belief is not harmful to others, unlike the more concrete beliefs that encourage entitlement and persecution, so I have no problem with them, per se. But my question, my point, is why do you feel the need to name anything god at all? My contention is that the desire to name a god is a social instinct. There is no reason, seeing the wonder of nature, to then name that God, or to claim the ineffable as god. This is an extra step in our process of understanding, giving a name to something we already have a name for and laying all the extra trappings of superstition upon it. This mandate to believe in some sort of god is imposed on us by history, by the evolution of society, but it has no basis in rationality.
I urge anyone with a willingness to proclaim a god, no matter how far removed from the gods worshiped by the devout, to question their own motives for this desire. I contend that it's something you don't need to do, but feel compelled to because of an all-but-inborn stigma attached to non-belief.
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