isn't it interesting that religions have come up with some wonderful ways in which to subjugate people's minds?
if we stop thinking of religion as something made up by stupid people, and start looking at it as it's own entity (a meme, passed from mind to mind by language), we can see profound evolutionary adaptations.
for example, omnipresence. any religion that can claim that their god is omnipresent has a large survival advantage in the fertile minds of non-believers. it sure trumps the old Greek gods where you could simply hope that they didn't see your "transgressions." when you couple that with the Christian concept of Sin, where natural human behavior is deemed evil, the religion gains a powerful ability to make its followers feel guilty. moreover, when you add to that double-whammy of manipulation the Christian concept of Salvation, where one must become a more devout follower of the religion to rid themselves of their guilt, you get the most powerful mental parasite ever created, Christianity.
it amazes me how ideas adapt new traits, tools, and methods for reproduction (like evangelism) to preserve their existence. the parallels that can be drawn between the evolution of biological organisms, and the evolution of ideas (memes) are plentiful. I hope that, some day, we will have a vaccine against religion.
its also kind of funny how the deeply religious doubt evolution =]. perhaps that is yet another adaptation of the religion to prevent us from looking at religion for what it is.
[\my two cents]
if we stop thinking of religion as something made up by stupid people, and start looking at it as it's own entity (a meme, passed from mind to mind by language), we can see profound evolutionary adaptations.
for example, omnipresence. any religion that can claim that their god is omnipresent has a large survival advantage in the fertile minds of non-believers. it sure trumps the old Greek gods where you could simply hope that they didn't see your "transgressions." when you couple that with the Christian concept of Sin, where natural human behavior is deemed evil, the religion gains a powerful ability to make its followers feel guilty. moreover, when you add to that double-whammy of manipulation the Christian concept of Salvation, where one must become a more devout follower of the religion to rid themselves of their guilt, you get the most powerful mental parasite ever created, Christianity.
it amazes me how ideas adapt new traits, tools, and methods for reproduction (like evangelism) to preserve their existence. the parallels that can be drawn between the evolution of biological organisms, and the evolution of ideas (memes) are plentiful. I hope that, some day, we will have a vaccine against religion.
its also kind of funny how the deeply religious doubt evolution =]. perhaps that is yet another adaptation of the religion to prevent us from looking at religion for what it is.
[\my two cents]
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