[ExI] atheists declare religions as scams.

[Stefano Vaj]

On 1 February 2011 14:12, Ben Zaiboc <bbenzai at yahoo.com> wrote:
> On 31 January 2011 01:31, Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I think atheists would be much better off to try to understand why (in
>> an evolutionary sense) humans have religions at all.
>
> I thought the idea that our brains are adapted to err on the side of false positives when attributing agency to events was enough of an explanation.

There again, if I am angry with my car because it does not want to
start, I am not founding a religion, I am more likely to kick it and
call a mechanic.

Moreover, there are religious beliefs which have nothing to do with
attributing agency.

Basically, "re-ligio" in Latin simply means a common set of ideas and
narratives that binds together a group. In this sense, its
evolutionary significance for a cultural being would seem obvious. But
there is no requirement  whatsoever that such ideas or narratives
include or postulate a metaphysical worldview.

In fact, I suspect that most of the times, most of the places in human
history they did not, and yet could serve very well whatever
evolutionary added value religions may deliver.

-- 
Stefano Vaj