If you were ever a theist...

[Bard A Madsen]

Maybe and maybe not. If you look back to the Paleolithic time period, there are researchers who believe that religion (for want of a better word) took shape back then in the form of Shamanism. If that made society 'better off' who knows, but maybe mankind's sheer desire to wonder and be open to all it does not know and could never know, is where some of these ideas and rituals stemmed from.

Well their are examples where a tribe or civilization benefited from a religion.   One example that comes to mind was a tribe (I forget where but can look it up when I get home) that had certain rituals related to agriculture.  When the Europeans introduced them to the calendar and use that for determining when you plant and harvest they lost their crops to insects and flooding.  Religion has also been used to unite people into a common cause in many instances.

Now I agree that religions are appealing because they explain things we don't know as it's natural to fear the unknown.  That explains why people followed but not really how they originate as someone has to fabricate them as I suspect they were not all given sacred script.  Some are mentally unbalanced and may believe (jonestown comes to mind) however the majority I theorize were created for a specific goal such as gain prominence in the tribe or attempt to manipulate the tribe into adopting a certain practice

I'm curious reading both of you about where religion came from and everyone seems to flatly dismiss my claims to the subject and wonder why that is.  I did a lot of research and I am sure that Man didn't just make it up.  All the rituals and stories point to the same conclusion and yet people reach for answers or reply why would we want to know that.  To me it helps to know where religion came from even if you don't believe in it.  I've seen more response to others ideas on pole shifts or aliens.