(June 17, 2013 at 12:05 pm)littleendian Wrote:This is something I've never really understood. Along the spectrum from worshipping objects in the natural world (such as the sun, moon, stars, and even seasons), through polytheism, and then on to monotheism, beliefs seem to get more and more absurd. And yet this is the direction in which things have evolved over time.
![[Image: 083-Ancient-people-worshipped-the-sun-Bu...orship.jpg]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=www.atheistmemebase.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F03%2F083-Ancient-people-worshipped-the-sun-But-now-weve-come-to-our-senses-and-worship-a-carpenter-from-200-years-ago-insanity-jesus-religion-christianity-sun-worship.jpg)
I'm no sun worshipper, but it's understandable why people would have thought that was the right thing to do. As something that sustains almost all life on earth, it isn't entirely ridiculous. Polytheism and monotheism both seem ridiculous to me, only polytheism slightly less burdened by the logical absurdities which plague the omni-everything types of monotheism.
Why does this happen? Is it syncretism just snowballing bits of religion together so that you get less and less of them but they are each more and more crazy? Or is this the direction in which religions need to evolve in order to be more successful at out-competing one another?
