(August 27, 2016 at 10:55 am)Brian37 Wrote:(August 27, 2016 at 8:28 am)RobertE Wrote: It is merely a question of who wants to be a slave and be handcuffed to an imaginary being. Break those handcuffs, free yourself from the tyranny that is religion and live your lives to the fullest. To be a slave and wear handcuffs, you might as well just be in prison.
The religions of Abraham, all three, were all started in an age of tribal kingdoms. Back then the mortality rate was much higher and your survival was much more dependent on being loyal to the tribe, and that stems even to prior polytheism. In antiquity most humans lived in tribal local groups lead by a ruling family. Even in polytheism it was a norm to make your captured in war slaves and take their women/girls/children as prizes.
Even in polytheism, most humans falsely attributed their success as a tribe as coming from a divine power. The god that lead to all three religions was originally a lesser god "Yahweh" under the rule of the head god "El" as part of a "divine family".
Even Buddhism does not escape this motif in it's depictions of the first Buddha. He was born of royalty and his mother Queen Maya was told by the divine world of the birth she would give as a gift to humanity.
Once you have sampled all the motifs of the world's religions in human history it becomes obvious as to what humans are doing in reality. They are merely buying into these myths in order to create a sense of self importance.
So, we can go forward 2,000-3,000 years into present day Earth and nothing much has changed. Chinese people feel safer in large communities overseas, just as the English do, the French, and all other groups besides. We have never grown out of the tribal mentality. Shame really.
