by Heath Cleaveland

Created on: June 03, 2009   Last Updated: June 23, 2009

You find religion everywhere and at every time we can find evidence of humans. There are archaeological talismans, there are gods in a pantheon, and the latest one and only God theory. Cultural anthropologists find examples of mystical beliefs in their studies of independent civilizations. Archaeologists discover evidence of mystical beliefs in the most ancient artifacts and artwork. Every civilization has some kind of mystical belief and if it thrives, such beliefs can rouse individuals who father religions.

People are always wondering about religion, to this very day. Right now we are wondering why they exist, period. Atheists think long and hard about God and decide He certainly does not exist, period. Agnostics are hesitant to decide, perhaps because there's a little fear left in them after all. Don't want to step on the Big Guy's toes, just in case. In a way, with religion we have the participant/observer paradox from theoretical physics. If you think you merely observe religion from the sidelines, you might be wrong. Foucault would have to admit that we are all (indeed universally) part of the discourse of religion. We all hear of some religion or another at a young age. Our laws are based on religious precepts.

What we have to ask if we want to know exactly why religions exist is, "What purpose do abstract concepts serve in the earliest times?" The mystical beliefs that turn into religions begin as abstract concepts perhaps. If people we living in caves, for instance, what might the environmental stimulus be to think abstractly? I would wager that meeting others and consequential experiences would create and reciprocally build successive layers of abstract thinking. You would be glad if your elder taught you to be a little different with strangers and found that working right away. What could you teach a youngster to help them survive on their own?

Societies that develop high degrees of abstraction would, by getting smarter, do better than their neighbors. There would be in that case Darwinian survival for societies that cultivated their abstract concepts. People have often made assertions about the religious gene with no evidence whatsoever. Of course, there is the idea that if religious societies do actually become more successful as a result, then we would end up a planet of religious fanatics. That IF... THEN statement appears solid to me.

Religions initially established a code only to serve members. For example the Roman citizen had far greater rights than any non-citizen or slave. The Crusades are a great example of religion serving only its own people. Earlier, I mentioned that our laws are based on religion. Military support for human equality is supported by the Constitution, but that clearly didn't apply to all colors of people until recently. It is the mark of progress that our powerful zeal for justice, developed in history with only long-fought battles and no easy victories, has finally escaped such an obvious contradiction in terms.

Religions undoubtedly serve many purposes, but as to why they exist at all, it is certainly a different question. Religions exist because it's an advantage to the society that support them. The fact that the government of the United States no longer associates the state with religion makes us no less dependant on the language and culture of English Christianity for our own langauge and culture. To continue to develop, we need to turn to the son of religion and the grandchild of mysticism, science. Just as the Greeks understood that man can only approach the divine, scientists understand that their research can only approach absolute understanding.

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