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Post by Deleted on Aug 24, 2013 22:09:45 GMT -5
Obviously religious beliefs do not erupt spontaneously out of nothing, right? So what comes first? Relgiion or culture? If religion, then how come there are so many religions with differing laws, belifefs, etc. Sharia law for one? Nirvana. Reincarnation. To name a few of the differing beliefs. What say you? |
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Post by mikkel on Aug 25, 2013 7:32:49 GMT -5
The physical world -> the biological world -> brains and culture -> religion. Not the other way around apparently  |
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Post by faskew on Aug 25, 2013 12:45:24 GMT -5
My thinking is that humans of thousands of years ago tried to figure out the world around them. They saw and experienced many,many things that they did not understand. But it seemed very clear that there were human-like "spirits" who made things happen, since they had no other explanation. Spirits (beings with powers greater than humans) obviously made the air move, water flow, storms, disease, and so on. They could be negotiated with by means of ceremonies and offerings.
Complex religion grew from that primitive animism and shamanism, as humans shifted from hunter-gathers to villagers. Village hierarchy was reflected in religion - yes, there were many gods, but they had a "chief" and had to follow rules. Yes, you had to pay taxes to the gods, just like to the village rulers. And so on.
So early human culture tried to figure out the world and out of that effort religion grew. 8->
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Post by raybar on Aug 25, 2013 14:27:30 GMT -5
Which came first, culture or religion?
I think it's pretty clear that culture preceded religion. You can see rudimentay culture in many herd animals, in the form of high and low status individuals and the ways they interact with each other.
No one thinks that cows have religion, but they do have rules within the herd. For example, when the herd is on the move, the highet status individuals will be in the center of the herd - the safest place to be. Mid-status individuals will be in the lead, and low satus individuals will be last, where they are most exposed to predators.
No one thinks that chimp are religious either, but they clearly live in a culture and have a high level of socail interaction.
It's a reasonable guess that our pre-human ancestors also had early forms of culture before religious ideas emerged.
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In answer to the question asked in the title of this thread --- Although there are things I would like to change about the culture in which I live, and there are some religious behaviors that I find objectionable, I object to neither culture nor religion per se.
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