(July 8, 2018 at 11:56 pm)kbultra Wrote: I know this is very far fetched but hear me out. I was thinking about religion (I am newly atheist) and thought that maybe religion was originally made to keep early humans in order. Before police and jail and law at all. Think about it, if you couldn't keep people under control and there were no laws, what would you do to keep people from killing and stealing? I know what I would do. I would come up with a story in which people who do bad and immoral things get punished after they die, and people who do great and kind things live in a perfect place after they die. Sound familiar? I honestly believe that religion could have originated from an early human form of "law"
That was my observation too, back at age seven when chatting with the boy next door and his older brother on the subject of hell. It was such a garish and outlandish and excessive way to deal with people, it seemed out of line for a god. IMO, gods should know better than that. Obviously hell was the invention of the politico-religious hierarchy, as they would be the main beneficiaries from a cowed, submissive populace.