Religion as a sociological survival mechanism~
Okay, kids. Nestor is going to break it down for you: Religion is functionally useless nowadays except as a primer for philosophy and as a functional moral primer for existing in today’s world. Things like “Don’t kill” and “Don’t steal” are decent fundamentals. It’s good to instill a personal belief in what’s “right” and what’s “wrong”. Morals (and as an extension, laws) are the survival mechanism for any society that allows itself to propagate. morals bring a personal motivation to an impersonal law.
Let’s set aside what constitutes “right” and “wrong” for a moment. For the sake of argument we’ll use murder.
Killing your fellowman has consequences- you piss off people around you, and you destroy the equilibrium that a society creates amongst its peoples; and so therefore (unsanctioned) killing goes against the survivability of your society’s way of life. So the society concocts an explanation: “Killing is bad. We’re going to outlaw killing.”
Irregardless if there’s a theology present, it still establishes a rule, a defining characteristic. Theology just hammered home the point a little more with the promise of repercussions beyond the mortal coil: “Don’t kill, or when you die, something bad will happen to you.” Accentuated with the fear of death, the fear of the unknown, and no proven knowledge of what exists beyond the boundary of life, you have a perfect mechanism for delivering society-driven survival methodologies into your children. Here’s the kicker: It’s fundamentally no different than telling them that the boogey monster will eat them alive if they don’t go to sleep on time.
Along the way, you can throw in “guideposts to better living” for the individual because again, it serves the society’s best interests to make sure the individual is functioning properly. For the sake of argument, let’s say Vitamin X makes you healthy. Fights cancer, freshens your breath, and gives you stupendous sexual prowess. It’s then in your best interests to take Vitamin X. So let’s write that down: Your society… no wait. Your God says it’s in your best interest. Seeing as your God is the final arbiter of what happens at death, wouldn’t it make sense that he’d suggest something in life? Of course!
Breaking it down in case you missed it, religion is an excellent tool to deliver a personal connection with impersonal laws. In the past, most societies were theocratic in nature, so this was advantageous. The law, “You cannot kill, or you will recieve X punishment” is abstract. You can’t relate that to yourself without a moral obligation. Religion establishes that moral obligation. What’s amusing with this scenario is the fact that there are loopholes. “You cannot kill, or you will recieve X punishment (except)” You are free to kill those that attempt to kill you. You are free to kill those that threaten your society (encouraged, even!).”
maybe my prolem is the fact that they interject a nameless, faceless, unprovable God in the whole thing, and then at the same time that he can’t be proven, claim to speak in his name.