<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:large;color:#000000">In some African tribes paranoid schizophrenia is highly prized. They see and hear hallucinations which the rest of us don't. Ergo - they are in touch with the spirit world and are made the spiritual leader in the tribe, often called the witch doctor (a powerful position - he can order witches to be killed or kicked out of the tribe). So the witch doctor only is able to deal with actions taken by the spirits and communicate with them. I say this is a religion. bill w</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Aug 23, 2023 at 5:48 AM John Clark <<a href="mailto:johnkclark@gmail.com">johnkclark@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">On Mon, Aug 21, 2023 at 10:38 PM Keith Henson <<a href="mailto:hkeithhenson@gmail.com" target="_blank">hkeithhenson@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</span><br></div></div><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr"><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><i>
<span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">> </span>What is a religion? What evolutionary selection, direct or indirect,<br>
caused humans to be able to have a religion? I think it is a side<br>
effect of the selection for war. YMMY, I would like to know if you<br>
can account for religions in another way.</i></blockquote><div><br></div><font size="4">I don't know for a fact that religion confers any genetic advantage, it could be an evolutionary spandrel. But assuming for the sake of argument that it is not, I have a few ideas why no culture is devoid of a history of religion. The most obvious explanation is fear of death but I have another. In general it would be a Evolutionary advantage for children to listen to and believe what adults, particularly parents, have to say; don't eat those berries they will kill you, don't swim in that river, there are crocodiles, etc. Most people may not be born with innate religious feelings and visions but some have a brain abnormality and are psychotic, so they teach their children as if these psychotic visions are true and the children believe them. </font><br></div><div class="gmail_quote"><br> <font size="4">And when those children grow up they in turn teach their children those screwy beliefs, and that's why religious belief displays such a strong geographical pattern, that's why all religions want to start indoctrinating children when they are as young as possible, they want to start "educating" them before their critical thinking abilities become more developed. So the root cause of religion may be that most people have a tendency (which started out as an advantage) to believe into adulthood whatever they were told as children.And thus ridiculous religious ideas (Noah's ark) start small but then grow to gargantuan size in just a few generations.</font></div><div class="gmail_quote"><font size="4"><br></font></div><div class="gmail_quote"><font size="4"><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> John K Clark</span></font></div></div>
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