Religious Evolution/What Makes a Religion the Right Religion

[illuminatus]

Let's take a moment to look back on human history regarding religion. What did other civilizations and cultures believed?

Egyptians:
Polytheistic society which had many feline type dieties.

Romans and Greeks:
Polytheistic society which believed that there was a higher diety ruling lower dieties.

Chinese:
Taoism
Buddism

Indians:
Hindu

Japanese:
Shinto

Native Americans:
Many tribes believed in a great spirit. Those in Central and South America believed in the Sun God and virgin sacrifice, etc.

There are many other civiliazations that had very different religions and beliefs from the more prominent ones now. These include the Norsman and the Anglo-Saxons.

Yet we look back at these religions now and we no longer recognize them as religion but rather mythology. Why? Because the civilizations which conquered the aforementioned civilizations imposed their beliefs on the people and essentially said believe this or die. So their religions slowly faded way into mythology. This has happened for thousands of years and will more than likely continue to do so providing of course that religion it self does not go away due to human enlightenment.

So with all these other religions who is to say what is right and what is wrong? Who has the authority-- the right to tell people what they should/can believe?

[Talishi]

So with all these other religions who is to say what is right and what is wrong? Who has the authority-- the right to tell people what they should/can believe?

The first question is, does someone have the right to tell people what to believe?

If the answer is yes, then the person who has the right to tell people what to believe is the person who has the right to tell people what to believe. If the identity of that person is unknown, then a search can begin.

If the answer is no, then nobody has the right to tell people what to believe.

[Plumbus Grumbo]

Let's take a moment to look back on human history regarding religion. What did other civilizations and cultures believed?

Egyptians:
Polytheistic society which had many feline type dieties.

Romans and Greeks:
Polytheistic society which believed that there was a higher diety ruling lower dieties.

Chinese:
Taoism
Buddism

Indians:
Hindu

Japanese:
Shinto

Native Americans:
Many tribes believed in a great spirit. Those in Central and South America believed in the Sun God and virgin sacrifice, etc.

There are many other civiliazations that had very different religions and beliefs from the more prominent ones now. These include the Norsman and the Anglo-Saxons.

Yet we look back at these religions now and we no longer recognize them as religion but rather mythology. Why? Because the civilizations which conquered the aforementioned civilizations imposed their beliefs on the people and essentially said believe this or die. So their religions slowly faded way into mythology. This has happened for thousands of years and will more than likely continue to do so providing of course that religion it self does not go away due to human enlightenment.

So with all these other religions who is to say what is right and what is wrong? Who has the authority-- the right to tell people what they should/can believe?

"Right" and "wrong" don't apply to religions. Religions either have much power or little power.

[amortalman]

[Replying to illuminatus]

"So with all these other religions who is to say what is right and what is wrong?"

Just ask any one of their faithful and most will tell you that they have the right because they are right and everyone else is wrong.

Not many who are indoctrinated into a particular belief will even consider that maybe they're all wrong.

[marco]

Not many who are indoctrinated into a particular belief will even consider that maybe they're all wrong.

The greatest persuader, I think, is the sword. Threat of death concentrates the mind marvellously on God. Islam swept across the pages of history and look at it now. Christianity brought God to South America with Toledo steel. And back home, those that had scruples about biblical truth found Torquemada an interesting debater.

If moving from your religion gets you a death sentence then many would stay put.

[Neatras]

Religions behave in the way all ideas do. They fester in the human mind, can be shared and passed on to others, and are unique to the individual. A collective of similar enough religious beliefs can create a population. And over time, trends and chance events can cause qualities of these shared religious beliefs to become more dominant over others.

In the same vein as morality, religion is conceptually a meme. And memes (in the original connotation) attempt to compete for "survival" in the consciousness of humans. The qualities needed to survive are those that force the "host" to consistently and persistently think about the religion (such as Islam with its countless surahs, or Christianity with its weekly gatherings and insistence on prayer at regular intervals). Additionally, religions that attempt to affect human behavior can guarantee its survival by causing the group to commit violence and spread their religion ever further. To do this, they had to monopolize morality, which was already an effective means of influencing behavior in populations.

So it's no surprise then, that religions which are not structured very well, either to stay relevant or transmit between humans, die out and become remembered only as myths. And it's also no surprise that the remaining religions that have survived for this long are so influential: They are the vestiges of a long passed era, except they have utilized the tactics and manipulative techniques to foster a perfect environment for their continued existence.

Religions are not randomly created. They are formed by discrete groups of people for discrete reasons. But taken in a distribution of all their innate qualities, they are effectively random. And so the ones whose qualities are best suited for surviving from one generation to the next will continue to exist, while the others disappear.

Knowing all of this, it's obvious that a handful of religions would be so popular. By design or by modification, all current religions have managed to overcome the challenges of relevance. And the most successful ones are those that demand attention, declare a monopoly on morality, and transmit easily between humans. The argument, "The religion is so popular because it is correct," can easily be countered. The religion is popular because its properties are conducive to its own persistence, the same as all other antiques.

[ttruscott]

Philosophy as the study of what is without resorting to a religious explanation would seem to be the wrong forum, no? - since it is already biased?

[marco]

Religions are not randomly created.

This is true. Your summary of how religions evolve is good. They may arise from one strong individual but they gather their strength through force. Islam brought gold to the initial conquerors - the more they conquered, the richer they got. Christianity swept across the Roman world like a fire and in the days of Spanish domination, it transformed South America. The British Empire brought Christian ways with the boots and guns of its soldiers, followed by the prayers of missionaries.

But once imposed, Islam and Christianity fight hard against deletion. The elements of belief are almost irrelevant, except where they encourage violence.

[William]

[Replying to post 8 by marco]

This sounds more the nature of politics. Most likely because that is exactly what it is. All wrapped up in the name of some idea of GOD which mirrors the political agenda.

[marco]

So with all these other religions who is to say what is right and what is wrong? Who has the authority-- the right to tell people what they should/can believe?

Most people alive today are inferior in intelligence to the notables who are known to us from ancient times. But idiots can use Kalashnikovs. Nobody has the right to tell others what to believe, but belief isn't generally based on logic or even choice. It is often a matter of geography.

Religion is a way of making sense of what is not understood and religion becomes sophisticated when it imbibes modern advances. Unfortunately religion is often resistant to imbibing anything and so we have Muslims today living in the 7th century and acting accordingly. We have Christians reading about Jonah and Adam and Lot as if these characters had anything to tell us other than what Red Riding Hood might offer. For most, I think, religion is inherited clothing, hard to throw away however worn it becomes.