Who Invented Religion and Why?

Question

Try to answer this without saying God did. I want to know if it's possible that some of you can use your mozak.

Answer 1

Religion is a primitive form of government with "God" as the law giver. It's origins are probably evolutionary. It is something that we evolved into creating because we discovered that it had benefits that helped us survive during a time when there was no actual governments. It was the law of the land. It helped us to organize and set standards and expectations on behavior of the individual.

However, now that government has been invented religion is nothing more than an ancient nuisance and continually gets in the way of our ability to further evolve our standards and treatment of one another in a more positive and productive way. Religion, now that the world has effectively shrunk with our ability to travel and because of technology, is now mostly a cause of conflict and not beneficial to us as a whole simply for the fact that not all religions can be factual, yet they all claim to be. That alone causes wars.

Answer 2

Hard to say. Religion has been around longer than recorded history. There's evidence that Neanderthals buried their dead with flowers and personal effects, indicating that some type of spiritual beliefs existed 30,000 years ago.

As far as why religion was created, religion has always served two purposes:

1) Comfort. That which is unknown is frightening, and religion serves to explain the unknown or unknowable. This leads to the "God of the gap" phenomenon, wherein God may only occupy the gaps in human knowledge. As our knowledge expands, there is less and less space left for God.

2) Order. Religion serves to impose order and healthy lifestyles on people who may not otherwise be easily convinced. For example, much is made of the sacred hindu cow, and many non-Hindus are quick to point out that Indians could end the food shortages that plague that country if they would just eat all the cows. What many people fail to realize is that until recently, the cow was the basis of the entire Hindu economy. With a large majority of the population existing on subsistance farming, a farmer's cows served him in numerous ways. Indian cows produce milk and serve the same function as tractors. Their dung can be used for fertilizer, cooking fuel, or building materials. They are walking agricultural factories, and all they require is the chaff and weeds that humans can't eat. India could solve its hunger problems by eating all of the cows today, but doing so would cause a nation-wide famine in six months. The religious taboo about beef serves not to protect the cow, but to protect the farmer from killing the cow in times of desperation. This is the substance of which religion is made.

Answer 3

Religion invented?
Not quite.
The New Encyclopædia Britannica says that “as far as scholars have discovered, there has never existed any people, anywhere, at any time, who were not in some sense religious.”
The book World Religions—From Ancient History to the Present concludes that “the modern historian of religions knows that it is impossible to reach the origins of religion.”

Answer 4

Religion was invented by the first sentient beings, to try and explain the unknown. No doubt small beings, natural things like praying to the river and such. Seems obvious if you even think about it. Man is afraid of the unknown, so we would naturally invent explanations for these unknowns. Higher powers, beings with greater knowledge would be quite natural to "blame" for things that happen that can't be explained.

Answer 5

man himself invented religion....

Answer 6

a cave man came up with it to control the tribe to be leader

Answer 7

it was invented by Ug. at one time the world was a very scary place for humans, they just didn't know why things happened. lightening would strike, rivers would flood, people would grow sick and die and they didn't know why. now you can imagine how frustrating that is, us shaved monkeys are so damned curious about things, we need to know the answer to things. but also just as important is intellectual closure, being satisfied with the answer. now Ug, being a clever bod, tried to find a solution not just for individual events but for everything, you know, a sort of grand unifying thingamibob theory that would tie everything together neatly. in fact he was as sort of neolithic einstein.
one night he was sat at the camp fire chomping away at the tough meat of a mammoth, when one of the children asked him, "what are the stars Ug"? now Ug loved children he would spend hours at night sat at the fire telling them stories about the animals and the hunts for them, but for a moment he was stumped, what are the stars he thought. then he had a eureaka thought and said, "that is where the brave hunters go when they die" the camp went silent, he had not only caught the attention of the children but also the adults. they stopped what they were doing and sat by the fire looking expectantly at Ug. "um-er" he stammered, he didn't know what to say next, but just then the moon emerged from behind a bank of clouds and its light illuminated him and drove the darkness skirting the campsite away. "the moon, who was our first mother, takes them up there to be with her when they die". he saw that they were hooked,all of them with one exception his brother Og, who was cynically staring at him. "what's up Og, don't you believe me"? now Og, being a practical down to earth sort of guy wasn't too impressed with this moon and stars mumbo jumbo and said, "if the hunters are up in the sky what did we bury in the ground then. a momentous day for mankind, not only was religion born, but also the first theological dispute was taking form. Ug was only stymied momentarily, "Og, what happens when some one dies"? Og smiled, flashing his worn, misshapened teeth, he sensed some sort of victory. "they stop moving, breathing, they don't talk and they start to smell". "why do you think they stop Og", said Ug with a rhetorical flourish. Og looked blank but before he could think of a suitable retort Ug resumed his speech. "when people die they stop moving, in that you are correct Og, but why, why do they stop. something must make them move that is gone when they die". Ug could sense the objection forming in Og's mind and held his hand up to halt Og as he warmed to his theme. " we do not see anything leave, therfore" he paused for dramatic effect, "it must be invisible". the crowd murmered, slightly incredulous at this claim. "Mug", said Ug, "you are the greatest hunter among us, yet today when you threw your spear at that mammoth agust of wind took it and you missed didn't it". Mug shrugged. "it was not your fault Mug, your aim was true, it was the invisible ancestor of the mammoth that made your spear miss". the crowd gasped. "yes it was" exulted Mug, "that invisible ancestor mammoth thingy made me miss, i would have hit it if that evil invisible thingy hadn't blew my spear away". and again, another landmark in human history, blaming the supernatural for the vaguries of nature or personal incompetence. "you see it's true"! exclaimed Og. the crowd were ecstatic, they jumped up and bounded with joy around the camp fire for today was the day when mankind were freed from the burden of not knowing why things happened. the wise Og had provided them with closure. "will the invisible ancestors help us, do they get angry with us" a voice cried out. the dancing stopped and all faces turned to Og. "yes they will help us ", said Og. "they will tell me what they want and i will tell you, but they will be angry if you do not please them". "what do the invisible ancestors thingies want"? cried the crowd. Og thought, just then an inquisitive marmoset poked it's head up to see what all the fuss was about. Og saw the marmoset and shouted, "they want a marmoset, it is a sign from them". sure handed Mug picked up a pebble and aimed it at the marmoset. thwok! the pebble connected and stunned the marmoset. "bring it here", said Og. Og placed the marmoset on the fire to cook. Ug sensed a flaw in Og's logic. " how are the invisible ancestor things going to eat it"? said Ug. "umm-errr, it's in the smoke, the marmosets invisible thingy, that's what they eat, they told me to eat the marmoset, yes that's it. every time we feed them they told me to eat the thing that's cooked" the fourth spiritual highlight of the day, the birth of organised religion and paid priesthood. and that's how religion was born. Og lived to a ripe old age as the holy man of the tribe, unfortunately Ug was trampled soon afterwards by a swarm of enraged lemmings and was tickled to death. Og told the tribe this was the punishment from the invisible ancestor thingies for Ug's doubting them. he had a devoted and devout following from then on. he later told them about old man thunder, who rolled rocks around in the clouds and threw lightening at people because he was so grumpy. the old man could only be stopped if he was diverted by some other amusement which Og told them was that he, must have sex with all of the women of the tribe, except Moogon the foul, to amuse the old man and stop him throwing lightening. and so the pantheon and Og's requirements grew. and we still have gods until this very day, though they should have died when science explained things better. but it's hard to shake old habits, perhaps one day we will and Og's invisible ancestor thingies will no longer rule our lives. i'd like to say we all lived happily ever after, but we didn't did we. ( please excuse the spelling, the checker died).