What is the evolutionary advantage to religion?

Lam writes:Person A: What's fire?
Person B: Um... uh... it must be beyond our comprehension.
Person C: Hey, you're right. There must be a "supernatural being" of some sort to maintain the fire.
Person A: Ok, let's all worship the fire "god".

Deut 4:15-20=You saw no form of any kind the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, 16 so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, 17 or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, 18 or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below. 19 And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars--all the heavenly array--do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.

I was stating my opinion that religion has an advantage over science and philosophy because it is easy to swallow and it justifies a lot of prejudice and hate that people tend to have.

robin writes:The people of the past made YOU.What you know is what they found out.

It is for the group that wins.They get more resources for themselves where they had to share before.

If you really want to look at history, we can look at all of the damage that religion without science has done, and continues to do. Think of the Taliban.

jar writes:Simply not true. The Nazis, including Hitler were Christians (specific quotes available to support that assertion if requested). They even maintained diplomatic connectioins with the Vatican throughout the war.

Schraf writes:You are now just engaging in what every new generation of Christians (or any other religion) does."Those people who called themselves Christians in the past? The ones who did things or held views that were considered quite normal and justified back then but we now consider racist, sexist, or otherwise offesnsive and oppressive?They were not true Christians."Well, phat, that is just you trying to distance yourself from the realities of your own religious history.The KKK is a Christian white supremacist group that once counted it's US membership in the multi-millions back in the 1920's. It was a mainstream organization because it was normal to hate jews, blacks, Roman Catholics, and immigrants. Two US presidents, Harry Truman and Warren Harding were closely tied with the Klan.Now, you may now say that these people were not Christian, but the point is that, in their minds, they were. All of those millions of people who were members, and the many millions more who supported those views considered themselves good, Christian people supporting Christian values.Why is it then so unreasonable to think that Hitler and the Nazis didn't fully believe that they were good Christians, doing God's work? They were all "true" Christians, phat. It's just that the definition of what you consider a "good" Christian has changed along with the greater societal norms.

Schraf writes:Well, there was of course a call-in part to the show, and you should have heard the virulent, persecutorial hate pouring out onto this man from all of those good Christians. They told him that if he didn't like Christianity, he should get out of America. They told him that, as an Athiest, he didn't have the right to speak in America. They told him that he was going to burn in hell.

Please explain what an "Ultimate Truth" is, and how it supercedes societal norms.

this gives you the special ability to judge who is a "true" Christian or not.

That's exactly what all Christians say when trying to distance themselves from the more unsavory aspects of Christianity's history say.

How so?

Please explain what an "Ultimate Truth" is, and how it supercedes societal norms.

Brian writes:You imply that anyone who doesn't believe in Christ is some sort of demon.

Irving Janis did lots of work in the area of group communication. Janis defines Groupthink as a "a quick and easy way to refer to a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members' strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action" (Janis 9). Janis further states that "Groupthink refers to a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment that results from in-group pressures" (Janis 9). Groupthink can lead to bad judgments and decisions being made. It serves as a simple way to deal with difficult issues.