u/DeltaBlues82

Thesis: The natural analogs of religious components strongly suggest religion has a natural, non-theistic, origin. And that it evolved for biological reasons, not for truth-tracking.

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Modern religions make the claim that they began when God intervened in human affairs, and imparted knowledge to certain cultures. Yet a review of the structure and natural references of religious components does not lead to the conclusion that religion was created this way. It appears as though religion was created when certain types of adaptations evolved in complexity, in response to environmental pressure.

Reviewing the natural analogs of religious components can only lead us to conclude that the existence of religion is most plausibly explained without invoking any form of a supernatural intervention.

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I posit that the primary components of religion are; Belief, Community, Ritual, Sacredness, Veneration, and Social Order/Morality. And specific to modern doctrinal religions; Narratives. Each of which has an observable natural, non-human analog. Which strongly suggests a common (evolutionary/biological) origin.

Obviously we don’t need to review any specific evidence for belief and community in the natural world, those are obvious. So we’ll begin our review by comparing the remaining five components of religion to analogous behavior in other non-human animals.

Ritual: Birds participate in various forms of rituals to strengthen social bonds. Source

Veneration: Elephants have been observed mourning the bodies of their kin. Source

Sacredness: Chimpanzees’ "waterfall dances" suggest they possess a capacity for awe. Source

Morality and Social Order: Despite being predators, humpback whales are incredibly peaceful creatures. Arguably even more peaceful than humans. Living in large social groups with complex dynamics, humpbacks have been observed sacrificing their own wellbeing to protect other species of whales, mammals, and even humans from shark and orca attacks. Strongly suggesting moral awareness and the ability to recognize personhood. Source 1, Source 2

Narratives: Bees often organize narrative components (ie agency, timeline, setting) to give other members of their hive directions to specific locations. Source

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Given the clear natural, non-theistic, evolutionary origins of the components that comprise religion, it’s more accurate to describe its origin & existence without invoking any supernatural or divine intervention. And to conclude that it evolved for biological benefit, and not for truth tracking.

Demanding the need for objective morality demonstrates a lack of understanding for how subjective systems function. Subjective systems are not arbitrary, they evolved because they serve important adaptive purposes, allowing us to interpret and navigate reality.

An example of this would be our vision, which is inherently subjective. Some of the things we see don’t objectively exist as discrete properties in the external world, but arise from the brain’s interpretation of sensory input.

If one demands that legitimacy, understanding, or even knowledge requires objective grounding, then for consistency sake, one should also reject the functional validity of other subjective systems (like taste, hearing, or vision) that nevertheless provide reliable and adaptive guidance for human behavior and decision making.

A rejection which would probably kill you.

So scratch that I guess, and continue to rely on subjective systems to navigate and survive in the everyday world.

The natural analogs of religious components strongly suggest religion has a biological, non-theistic origin and that it didn’t evolve for truth-tracking.

Demanding the need for objective morality demonstrates a lack of understanding of how subjective systems function.