2) a form of controlling others (religions are social institutions), and
3) as someone already pointed out, used to justify behaviour or abdicate responsibility for one's own actions because a "devil made me do it" and "Jesus forgives" means one can offend endlessly and never change one's behaviour in a meaningful way.
Folks have spiritual experiences every single day, but religions aren't needed for that.
Even asking if one "believes in god" assumes that one is monotheistic, and for the majority of humans historically, polytheism was the norm.
The conspiracy theorists might be "out there," but they have developed an interesting idea regarding the existence of "gods." What if the "gods" in ancient human history were nothing more then aliens who came into contact with primitive humans, and from that time till now, the story has, as it always does, change with each retelling? What if the Buddha was an alien who hung out on earth and was nice to humans and taught them things? What if Shiva and all the blue deities in India weren't entirely made up by early humans, and aliens who controlled humans and set themselves up as "gods," and then left for some reason?
I can imagine the collective gasp from the leaders of the organized religions if that ever turned out to be true, LOL!
do you believe in God?
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"Gods" were made up by humans to
1) explain what could not be explained,
2) a form of controlling others (religions are social institutions), and
3) as someone already pointed out, used to justify behaviour or abdicate responsibility for one's own actions because a "devil made me do it" and "Jesus forgives" means one can offend endlessly and never change one's behaviour in a meaningful way.
Folks have spiritual experiences every single day, but religions aren't needed for that.
Even asking if one "believes in god" assumes that one is monotheistic, and for the majority of humans historically, polytheism was the norm.
The conspiracy theorists might be "out there," but they have developed an interesting idea regarding the existence of "gods." What if the "gods" in ancient human history were nothing more then aliens who came into contact with primitive humans, and from that time till now, the story has, as it always does, change with each retelling? What if the Buddha was an alien who hung out on earth and was nice to humans and taught them things? What if Shiva and all the blue deities in India weren't entirely made up by early humans, and aliens who controlled humans and set themselves up as "gods," and then left for some reason?
I can imagine the collective gasp from the leaders of the organized religions if that ever turned out to be true, LOL!