[ExI] atheists declare religions as scams.

[Samantha Atkins]

On 02/01/2011 05:12 AM, Ben Zaiboc 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.
>

Not by a very long shot.  The desire to find meaning to existence and a 
grounding for ones place in it is no small part of the generating 
functions.  Dealing with the fact of mortality adds fuel to the fire.  
Community bonding is still another part.  The causes for religion are 
not much more simple than human beings are.  Simplistic statements of "X 
explains religion or does so well enough" are neither accurate or helpful.

- s


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