It is said that religion is the irrational belief in man made fantasies about the origins, nature, and purpose of life, usually but not always involving a deity. The key aspect is that these fantasies can never be proved or disproved.
Why then do people dream up these fantasies?
One reason can be to maintain the position of leaders and the establishment. If they can justify their privileged position on the basis that it was ordained by some deity, then ordinary people would be less likely to challenge them. The same benefits also accrue to the priesthood of that religion, so they co-operate in creating a larger and more powerful establishment.
Many of the earliest religions are believed to fall into this category. If you don’t comply with the religious directives and obey your leaders then something terrible will happen – a nearby volcano will erupt or the sun will no longer rise or you will be struck by disease and pestilence.
An important aspect of many religions was the holy or sacred place – whether it was a man made place of worship or a natural feature. This provided a symbolic focus for believers. Stonehenge, dating back 5,000 years, is a perfect example of how important such places were considered,
As religions evolved the concept of life after death was devised and became recognised as one of the most reliable and powerful ways to control believers and ensure compliance with the rules of the religion. This often involved the ritual burial of the deceased and tombs have been found dating back over 100,000 years.
Another more altruistic reason behind some of the present day religions is to try and improve the society in which people live. For example Christianity was primarily created by Peter and Paul to improve upon the religion of Judaism, which was popular at the time. Judaism was an exclusive religion, distinguishing between believers and non-believers. Peter and Paul wanted to create a new religion which treated all people equally and embraced anyone into their church, regardless of their origins. They chose to use the existing religion of Judaism as a useful basis and adapt it to their vision. Peter and Paul were good friends with Jesus, who had achieved a degree of celebrity during his life, and it was natural for them to used their friend as the figurehead and focus of the new religion. Do you think that they were successful in their venture?
The modern science of memes helps to explain why certain ideas can take hold in the human psyche and be spread far and wide within any community and be believed with religious fervour.
It is not necessary for any culture to have a religion, and indeed Japan managed without one for thousands of years until forced to recognise the concept under threat from the USA’s warships in 1853.
There is no doubt that religion does serve to unite groups of people and galvanise them into working together towards some common goal. It still achieves this purpose in spite of the advances of modern science. The underlying human psyche has hardly changed at all since early man and it is important to remember this when trying to understand the ways in which humans interact.