[Serious] How many reasonable solutions are there to any particular social issue?

[Belacqua]

Not really done any research into the origins of religion have you?

No, I'm certainly not an expert in this. That's why I said "it would be interesting to know," rather than pretending that I do know.

Years ago I had an anthropology class where we spent a lot of time reading older anthropological studies, and analyzed how the interpretations had been made according to ethnocentric assumptions of the researchers. For example, if an unknown object was found in the grave of a woman, they would assume that it was used for weaving or some other activity which they took to be suitable for a woman. Sometimes these assumptions are shown to be wrong.

As I understand it, the field advances in part by new people critiquing the assumptions of the older people. We want to avoid certainty where it's not warranted. That's why I pointed to the work of recent experts who question the categories by which "religion" has been analyzed.

If you look at articles about those "Venus" figurines, you'll see there is a lot of "is thought to be," "has been interpreted as," or "may be" type of language. I've learned to be skeptical and reserve judgment in such matters. 

But again, I am no expert. It's a fascinating topic, and could make for a good discussion if we wanted to do something other than "win" an Internet fight.