Originally posted by spacemanspiff
you might be surprised how unsettling the idea that we may be glorified monkeys with no special purpose is to some people. people want answers, easy ones preferably, and religion can do that for them if they want it to.
I wouldn't be surprised at all.
That is a big part of what causes the vast majority of human beings to hold onto the idea that there is a God and an afterlife.
Mankind is an egotistical race.
(perhaps a natural result of being aware of his own mortality and frailty combined with the survival instinct)
People can not come to terms and accept mortality and their own insignificance.
They try to live for ever by living through their children, designing and constructiong buildings and monuments, becoming famous so they will be remembered and inventing afterlifes.
If man was not so egotistical, he may be able to accept that he is no more special or significant* in the grand scheme of the universe than a house fly, nor intrinsically more deserving of anything.
(*except, of course the fact that man is the only species that destroys the planet and murders other species for any reason other than survival.)
Man needs to get over himself and accept his own mortality.