As Its Good Friday...

[MiamiB]

Religion has always been the biggest scam going.
It's used to control people and scare them into being "good".
It's also used to take money from people who are too dumb to notice they are being scammed.
Throughout history the Bible has been rewritten to fit the needs of the "religious" leaders of the time.
Religious differences have been the cause of most of the wars on earth.
:humble: On That Note: HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE

Well stated. I agree with you totally.

[Bill]

You guys are, however, leaving out of the question the experience of "religious" ecstasy, and ecstatic and nouminous states in general.

There are a bunch of "religious" benefits. It evolved and developed as a human technology because it delivers these benefits.

I'm not religious, but I do enjoy a bit of "religious" ecstasy.

[MiamiB]

Yes, I am quite sure that the men who flew those planes into the towers were experiencing that wonderful religious ecstasy at the moment.

:crazy:

[DrChango]

Yes, I am quite sure that the men who flew those planes into the towers were experiencing that wonderful religious ecstasy at the moment.

:crazy:

To be perfectly honest (and I am in no way condoning their actions!) I have to admit that I envy their certainty. Those guys were absolutely certain they were doing the "right" thing and would be rewarded in the after life.

I think the only thing you could convince me to ram a jet-liner into would be Godzilla

[Bill]

Yes, I am quite sure that the men who flew those planes into the towers were experiencing that wonderful religious ecstasy at the moment.

:crazy:

Well, I wouldn't have picked that as an example of "religious" ecstasy, but now that you mention it, it's not a bad example of one of the evolutionary benefits of religion for human groups.

Human groups compete for territory, and expending their younger members to attack other groups in attempts to drive them away from territory is an evolutionary pattern.

Chimps send their excess males out to war with other bands of chimps and try to seize their territory. The wars we've gotten involved in the last few decades are the same thing written large.

However, that's more a brain stem thing, raw competition for space, and doesn't have anything to do with the "religious" ecstatic states i was talking about.

Altho, I agree, it's a good example of religions evolitionary function. Religion helps humans compete and gives a mechanism to justify killing and assuage guilt.

[DrChango]

Well, I wouldn't have picked that as an example of "religious" ecstasy, but now that you mention it, it's not a bad example of one of the evolutionary benefits of religion for human groups.

Human groups compete for territory, and expending their younger members to attack other groups in attempts to drive them away from territory is an evolutionary pattern.

Chimps send their excess males out to war with other bands of chimps and try to seize their territory. The wars we've gotten involved in the last few decades are the same thing written large.

However, that's more a brain stem thing, raw competition for space, and doesn't have anything to do with the "religious" ecstatic states i was talking about.

Altho, I agree, it's a good example of religions evolitionary function. Religion helps humans compete and gives a mechanism to justify killing and assuage guilt.

Religion (or some other philosophy like ultra-nationalism, Communism, etc) helps the more primordial instincts of the human psyche override the rational higher processes, permitting a normally reasonable man to bomb a school bus in a war for territory.

You folks ever seen this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4e8FpFkBRM

Be forewarned, it's disturbing, from an Iranian children's show

[Stravinsky]

I believe in solipsism. In fact, I invented it.

http://iinventedsolipsism.blogspot.com

Paul