Big Think

Derek Renfro on January 17, 2008, 9:33 PM

There are many different theories as to why religion developed in every culture around the world. Some say it was out of necessity as a need to feel connected to the world around us. Many scientists now believe it is something that is hard-wired into our brains, sort of like an instinct.

Brent Charriere on January 17, 2008, 9:52 PM

The rules that exist in religion are basic human nature laws, in my opinion. We as a species have relied on teamwork and cooperation, so killing your neighbor would be counterproductive.

As to why so many cultures came up with supreme beings, it was to explain natural phenomenon that they didn’t have a scientific explanation for. We are still searching for most of these answers.

Derek Pritchard on January 18, 2008, 4:55 AM

Ever since the cerebral cortex we have been able to ponder the very possibility of it therefore not being able to let it go. Humans have many questions not yet able to be answered therefore believing in a higher being because its just that far out of reach to understand. Being that its such an extremly vague and open mindset of a “supreme being” theres no doubt all humans would have shared common characteristics of this idea. As well as the evolving “god fearing” sense.

David Edwards-Smith on January 18, 2008, 2:57 PM

The problem may be the concept of “god” by some religious practices. Why is “god” seen as an ultimate being. The core of the worlds mythologies and quantum science speaks of “god” as the base reality we perceive to be seperate from.

Christopher Todd on January 18, 2008, 3:00 PM

Religion was developed to explain the unexplainable. Fortunately, much that previously fell into this category has been explained through science. There is no sufficient argument for religion. As our knowledge of the universe expands with scientific discovery, religion becomes more and more outdated and obsolete as a means of explaining the cosmos and our existence.

Kyle Ruth on January 18, 2008, 4:05 PM

Essentially early gods were created to explain events. In the eyes of an early Homosapien everything had purpose or at least an initiator of events. It logically followed for them that any natural event (volcanic eruption, earth quake, tornado, lightning storm, tsunami, etc.) was the intention of some more powerful being. Therefore it only makes sense that most cultures invented gods to explain the events they observed.

This also has another interesting angle. Did most cultures develop gods to explain events that they observed, OR did one of our early ancestors’ tribes invent gods and that tradition was passed along through the generations.

Schuyler Kelley on January 18, 2008, 4:47 PM

kruth85: It seems more likely to me, as a person who doesn’t really know anything about it, that the idea was created by one of the original tribes.

However, it seems to me that modern man must have descended from multiple tribes, rather than just one. Therefor more than one tribe must have come up with the idea.

luke seeley on January 18, 2008, 5:27 PM

I belive in god but think about this “If god wasnt real it would be nessacry to invent one” like say a king back in the day wanted you to do what he says well scare them into it.. plus it gives people hope after death? and who here dosnt like hope?

Josh Friedman on January 18, 2008, 6:53 PM

Hope is saying, “I am unsatisfied now so I’ll pretend that I will be satisfied future.” Well what happens when that future does not occur? People become irrational, and hope becomes dispair. Cynicism is a far better view. If things turn out well, bonus. If not, you saw it coming. Not so bad. Hope won’t change the outcome. Better to take the view that leaves the best chance of happiness.

Johnathon Nelson on January 18, 2008, 8:00 PM

why do people have a notion of the supernatural all over the world? Aren’t we all Homo Sapiens Sapiens? Your brain is just like the brain of an Iranian, a Russian, or a Nigerian physically speaking. The short answer is because all extant human beings have the same basic wiring, so we all come up with similar myths. It would be profoundly interesting if an alien from Gliese 581d had an identical mythos, but I doubt they would (assuming they exist). There probably wouldn’t be a Gliese 581d “bigfoot,” hope that helps.

tim g. on January 20, 2008, 1:21 AM

The concept of religion or mythology arises from lack on knowledge on the natural world. Its easier to invent some mythological story than to use raw reason to figure it all out.

And about the law of ‘dont kill other humans’, thats just a result of evolution. Humans are social creatures, we grow up in family’s, communities and societies. We arnt cannibals for a reason.

Andrew Jones on February 10, 2008, 12:13 AM

People with similar fears and psychology coming up with similar explanations for things they can’t yet understand? Wow! What a shock.

The fact they are only similar hides a more pointed question, which is how come all the religions are not all monotheistic and identical?

Just look at the Roman conversion to Christianity, a sort of progression and simplification (or evolution) to suit its environment (the culture at the time).

Schuyler Kelley on February 10, 2008, 3:05 PM

Horror, he used the word evolution, shun him! I am not a strict right-wing Christian.

I see your point, in fact.

dennis ilic on February 19, 2008, 11:55 PM

Zalethon, you are invited to participate in the idea “What is your definition of God? 100 words or less”. Your input would be appreciated.

Mark Tagliaferri on February 21, 2008, 10:01 AM

I think a lot of the answers have some interesting things to say about the similarities between religions.

I would want to add to quick points. The first point has to do with the extent to which religions “borrow” from one another. Without going into detail here, religions (especially the “big three”) were built on from the previous. In Christopher Hitchens’ book, god Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, the author spends several chapters outlining how the Koran is, in many places, copied from the torah and the New Testament. He also uses the example of Mormonism, whereby the Book of Mormon has more than 20,000 words copied verbatim from the Old testament, alone. To put it bluntly, a lot of similarities seem to stem from religions ripping each other off with regards to mythology.

The second point I would make concerns the comment you made about the general similarity in “basic rules.” I would argue that religion is so ingrained in our world views that we see this case and immediately assume that it’s evidence for a god. Here, it might be helpful to apply Ockham’s Razor (eliminating unparsimonious factors). When we do this, we can rephrase the question: does the existence of “basic rules” amongst people of all religions suggest that humans have an innate morality (or basic moral code) that manifests itself in different man-made stories or religious mythology? In this sense, religious codes can be seen as the product of a human genetic trait (morality), rather than morality being the product of religion or god.