(May 1, 2015 at 12:03 pm)Hatshepsut Wrote: Note that little word, "psychologically." Oracles were meant to provide true answers, and until science supplanted them, they did so to the comfort and satisfaction of the people using them. You must remember that pre-scientific people didn't have the background and education you take for granted today. They got comfort where they could. Psychologists know that a feeling of comfort is important enough to human well-being that humans will spend considerable time trying to make themselves more comfortable.
The atheistic belief system you see on this forum and elsewhere has formulaic texts, iconography, recognition rituals, and many of the other trappings familiar from the old religions. It's that tribe thing, baby!
I see a lot of falsities when it comes to what you think atheism is. Also, you are right that people turned to oracles (the supernatural) back in those days. Once they were replaced with science, they were obsolete and recognized as inefficient. We will not forsake science for the belief of the supernatural god(s) you call your own or that others claim the existence of. Those beings will forever be described as the "God of the Gap".