Sorry I didn't read through all the posts. I just read the first in the thread and it occured to me that Nietzsche has already proposed a solution to your problem, and he may explain why you are an atheist yet find religion significant. It is because you notice the cultural phenomenon of "belief" and have conjectured a "caloric fluid" --- power. Let me quote Zarathustra:
"Zarathustra saw many lands and many peoples: thus he discovered the good and evil of many peoples. And Zarathustra found no greater power on earth than good and evil.
"No people could live without first esteeming; but if they want to preserve themselves, then they must not esteem as thier neighbor esteems. Much that was good to one people was scorn and infamy to another: thus I found it. Much I found called evil here, and decked out with purple honors there. Never did one neighbor understand the other: ever was his soul amazed at the neighbor's delusion and wickedness.
"A tablet hangs over every people. Behold, it is the tablet of their overcomings; behold, it is the voice of their will to power.
"Praisworthy is whatever seems difficult to a people; whatever seems indispensible and difficult is called good; and whatever liberates even out of the deepest need, the rarest, the most difficult-- that they call holy.
Whatever makes them rule and triumph and shine to the awe and envy of their neighbors, that is to them the high, the first, the measure, the meaning of all things."
That explains religion in a vacuum. Hope this contributes to the discussion.
"Zarathustra saw many lands and many peoples: thus he discovered the good and evil of many peoples. And Zarathustra found no greater power on earth than good and evil.
"No people could live without first esteeming; but if they want to preserve themselves, then they must not esteem as thier neighbor esteems. Much that was good to one people was scorn and infamy to another: thus I found it. Much I found called evil here, and decked out with purple honors there. Never did one neighbor understand the other: ever was his soul amazed at the neighbor's delusion and wickedness.
"A tablet hangs over every people. Behold, it is the tablet of their overcomings; behold, it is the voice of their will to power.
"Praisworthy is whatever seems difficult to a people; whatever seems indispensible and difficult is called good; and whatever liberates even out of the deepest need, the rarest, the most difficult-- that they call holy.
Whatever makes them rule and triumph and shine to the awe and envy of their neighbors, that is to them the high, the first, the measure, the meaning of all things."
That explains religion in a vacuum. Hope this contributes to the discussion.
