How did religion come about?

Answer 1

Very simple really. To answer questions that we had no answers for. Also humans are conscience of the fact of death. It is very hard to under stand not "being" any more. Hence god to placate us to the fact that we won't die, not exist in the future.

Answer 2

Cosmology and religion are found in every human group.

I think they reflect human psychological needs, a way to explain the natural world, ascribe personal significance to the simplest rituals, and to answer questions related to meaning, a human concept. Same thing with myths and stories.

When societies become more complex in organization and require a central government, religion tends to become a part of the state and a method of keeping the population under control, for better or worse. Some of these religions have been the cause of oppression and coercion (see the Middle Ages).

I am not convinced that a god exists. I am nearly certain that it is not the religious god presented in scriptures. One way to show the inaccuracies of religion is to compare early creation myths with scientific knowledge of our universe and the human species.

For instance, the Yanomamo tribe of Venezuela believe that all women were born from drops of moon blood and fruit. We can pretty much rule that one out, along with all other faiths. No religion ever said that the earth was billions of years old, among billions of galaxies, and that species emerged via an evolutionary process. That doesn't answer the question of a god, but it shows how humans are willing to make up cosmologies to explain existence, barring better methods of fact finding.

Answer 3

Early man needed a reason for everything. Why does the wind blow? Why does it get darker and colder during one part of the year and brighter and warmer during another? The Greeks came up with the Gods to explain the unexplainable. The forceful wind was Poseiden blowing the wind to stir up the sea. The seasons were because Persephony married Ares but was still alive; she had to spend half the year in Hades and the other half in the normal world.

Modern religion comes from books written and passed down from one person to another. Another great factor is the presence of certain religious figures, such as Moses, Jesus and Joseph Smith. They all preached their religion and this is where modern religion comes from.

Answer 4

When it comes to the question of origin, people of different religions think of names such as Muḥammad, the Buddha, Confucius, and Jesus. In almost every religion, we can find a central figure to whom credit is given for establishing the ‘true faith.’ Some of these were iconoclastic reformers. Others were moralistic philosophers. Still others were selfless folk heroes. Many of them have left behind writings or sayings that formed the basis of a new religion. In time what they said and did was elaborated, embellished, and given a mystic aura. Some of these leaders were even deified.

Even though these individuals are considered founders of the major religions that we are familiar with, it must be noted that they did not actually originate religion. In most cases, their teachings grew out of existing religious ideas, even though most of these founders claimed divine inspiration as their source. Or they changed and modified existing religious systems that had become unsatisfactory in one way or another.

For example, as accurately as history can tell us, the Buddha had been a prince who was appalled by the suffering and deplorable conditions he found surrounding him in a society dominated by Hinduism. Buddhism was the result of his search for a solution to life’s agonizing problems. Similarly, Muḥammad was highly disturbed by the idolatry and immorality he saw in the religious practices around him. He later claimed to have received special revelations from God, which formed the Qur’ān and became the basis of a new religious movement, Islām. Protestantism grew out of Catholicism as a result of the Reformation that began in the early 16th century, when Martin Luther protested the sale of indulgences by the Catholic church at that time.

Thus, as far as the religions now in existence are concerned, there is no lack of information regarding their origin and development, their founders, their sacred writings, and so on. But what about the religions that existed before them? And the ones even before those? If we go back far enough in history, we will sooner or later be confronted with the question: How did religion begin? Clearly, to find the answer to that question, we must look beyond the confines of the individual religions.

Answer 5

Early man, in his effort to explain the daily events in his life, came to believe that some power was arranging the happenings of life. In an effort to appease the power, who man believed lived in the heavens, he erected altars and began offering sacrifices to placate the newly invented gods and ask them to give men a better life, or at least not to interfere with the lives of men. Ever since then, religions have organized and constructed ceremonies to prove that man cannot get through life unless he adheres to the rules of certain individuals who are benefiting the most from the organizations.
Try reading Desmond Morris' book, "The Naked Ape," sometime!

Answer 6

Religion was created to explain the unexplainable. As far as we know the Neanderthals were the first to have a belief system. There is clear evidence that they believed in the after life and worshiped the moon.It is possible that Homo sapeins developed the idea of religion from the neanderthals that they were living in close contact with.

Answer 7

As an explanation for varying natural phenomena, such as the weather. In the early days of mankind, when the only thing standing between people and starvation was the rains, people sacrificed to the rain gods in the hope of staying alive. For more on this, see:

Answer 8

It was originally an attempt to explain the unexplainable. Now they're just blindly following what they were raised with.(Some of them are GREAT people that I know and love, but most who tend to speak to me about RELIGION are hate-mongers.)

Answer 9

People hundreds of years ago created it to explain things that they didn't know how to explain. And they still use it even though science has an explination for most things.

Answer 10

Religion and religious doctrines are always initiated by those in power, elite males. They consist of a set of rules and threats to keep poor, uneducated people down.