Mark Twain supposedly said "Religion was invented when the first con man met the first fool."
I think all of the above arguments have some truth. Humans became intelligent enough to ask "why are we here", "why do we die", "who made us" -- and "who got mad and dried up the water and made the animals go away"? I'm sure there were many, many
explanations given in many tribal groups.
And then a rather bright but probably scrawny NOT-Alpha male, who had been pushed into the shadows, said to himself - "what if
I could make the spirits listen to ME, and they would send the rain?" -- and he got lucky. It rained. Suddenly the whole tribe, including the Alphas, know that the witch doctor is the ONLY one that can talk to spirits. And we were all screwed. Because if the witch doctor prayed and danced, and the rain came, it was because the witch doctor was special. If the rain did not come, the people were somehow bad, and the spirits were angry.
That may not be the way I would posit an academic argument, but I'm pretty sure the shamans are partially to blame!
I think all of the above arguments have some truth. Humans became intelligent enough to ask "why are we here", "why do we die", "who made us" -- and "who got mad and dried up the water and made the animals go away"? I'm sure there were many, many
explanations given in many tribal groups.
And then a rather bright but probably scrawny NOT-Alpha male, who had been pushed into the shadows, said to himself - "what if
I could make the spirits listen to ME, and they would send the rain?" -- and he got lucky. It rained. Suddenly the whole tribe, including the Alphas, know that the witch doctor is the ONLY one that can talk to spirits. And we were all screwed. Because if the witch doctor prayed and danced, and the rain came, it was because the witch doctor was special. If the rain did not come, the people were somehow bad, and the spirits were angry.
That may not be the way I would posit an academic argument, but I'm pretty sure the shamans are partially to blame!
"The family that prays together...is brainwashing their children."- Albert Einstein
