Atheists: If Religion and the concept of God were invented, did Atheists invent them?

Question

Does this put the moral high ground some Atheists claim to have in dispute?

Answer 1

The belief in a God(s) started out as a way for ancient humans to explain, the unexplainable.

From there it grew.

Some religions have become peaceful in nature, while others are used to manipulate and herd the masses.

Answer 2

Religion and the concept of god were invented, but you are being very simplistic and facetious.They were not "invented" like the light bulb. Instead, they developed in response to man's fear of the unknown. And there was no definable point at which, suddenly there was religion, and all non-believers were atheists. A lot of the thinking on here is second rate. if you're going to ask this kind to question, at least try to be funny, otherwise you;re just tedious

Answer 3

Technically, yes, as people would have had to be atheists before god was invented. I doubt god was created in their minds thousands of years ago to gain the moral high ground. More than likely the idea of god was used to explain what seemed inexplicable at the time, thus allaying their fears. The same holds true today. If an event/phenomenon is not able to be fully explained (yet), people just cry out "Goddidit!".

Answer 4

No, I think religion was probably animistic in its roots. Evolutionary psychology postulates that religion probably started as an imaginary response to figuring out our environment, we have to imagine whats over the next hill to have a response ready for threat or possible prey. It's the next step to imagine that something might be on the other side of death, so the spirit world is conjured up in our imaginations. Once there is a spirit world, our ancestors didn't see a reason why it only has human spirits, trees, rocks, and animals would populate it in abundance, much like the world they inhabited.
To influence the real world they would try and cajole the equivalent spirit, appease the spirit of the reindeer before hunting or sing to the forest spirit before making a new camp.
As human society became more agricultural and settled, the weather spirits would become more important, and annual festivals to appease them would lead to more organised priesthoods with a need for calendars and more sophisticated ideas over how the spirits behaved, leading eventually to our ideas of divinity.
In essence living in a world that they felt had little control over let them try and influence it through what was essentially sympaphetic magic, something that they wouldn't have even tried if they didn't believe there was no point in doing it.

Answer 5

Yes atheists invented religion. Back thousands of years in prehistory when cavemen didnt understand anything, and thought most illnesses were caused by evil spirits.

And after that then they would have been theists (the first theists), so this is a really poor argument, aspecially considering that a few atheists decide to become theists, and that you are just proving a point about how outdated religious beliefs are (ie 6000 years).

Answer 6

What nonsense is this? It seems to be a provocative question.

Of course they were invented. Even if they are true, which they aren't, someone had to conceive the idea to explain what they believe.

As to who - well, who knows? In that light, your second question is ill conceived.


Anyway, what moral high ground is that? As far as I can see, the moral high ground seems to be seized by believers who claim that there is no morality, or that people are not moral beings, without a god.

Answer 7

Not necessarily. The people who invented the concept of god may not have invented it for the purpose of suckering people. They may have invented it because they felt it was true.

In the time of primitive peoples there were no scholars... so they came up with explanations for ordinary occurances. The sunrise, the sunset, the winds, the rain, etc.... They probably hypothesized, and essentially believed that there was some higher being controlling it all.

Answer 8

Religion and the concept of the gods is an extension of the pantheistic belief that everything is divine. This in turn comes out of animism, the belief in the soul.

Monotheism stems from the belief of a creator god, more powerful than the other gods. This supreme god then subsumes the other gods as the adherents of the creator god become more widespread. Finally, the god is worshipped as the one and only god, forgetting the other gods that were once believed in.

Answer 9

No, even though we are born without belief, man has consistently created "gods". The oldest known religion, as far as I know, is dated back 35,000 years ago. They shaped a snake like rock so that it more resembled a snake and added several other animals, all most likely associated with rain. Near the snake is a small cave that show wear indicating that the leader probably arose from it at a dramatic moment.

There have been many religions since that time.

Answer 10

Religions evolve over time. Atheism is a concept, like Religion, that evolved alongside various beliefs. Atheists didn't invent God.