Religion stems from ancient pagan astrology.

[Minimalist]

No that is precisely the point. Europe and Mesopotamia are in very close proximity to Egypt and this proves that that traveling and "Cross pollination" are how all religions start.

One quibble, Brian.  It is how they evolve.  A bunch of Midianite tribesmen worshiping the volcano god, yah, in the Sinai could easily create a site-specific religion which would meet their needs.  But then, other ideas creep in and you end up with the fucking bible.

[Brian37]

No that is precisely the point. Europe and Mesopotamia are in very close proximity to Egypt and this proves that that traveling and "Cross pollination" are how all religions start.

One quibble, Brian.  It is how they evolve.  A bunch of Midianite tribesmen worshiping the volcano god, yah, in the Sinai could easily create a site-specific religion which would meet their needs.  But then, other ideas creep in and you end up with the fucking bible.

Ok, "evolve", but the video is pointing to our species early pattern seeking and that is where they all really stem from, worship of nature and animals and seasons changing.

If you do enough study of worldwide religions in our species history you can see even without direct connections the same false perceptions being created simply with different details. Even independently things like worship of constellations and fear of comets. 

The 13 part COSMOS series hosted by Neil makes those parallels as well. 

When you think globally in human history it is a simple conclusion you can come up with that humans simply were reflecting their own desires and qualities and fears on the world around them.

[Minimalist]

I agree.  People created religions out of what they saw in their own environments. They more or less had to as there were no gods then either.  It is easier to see what they evolved to become rather than where they started, though.  Even today there are Hunter/Gatherer groups which retain a primitive animist-type culture.

http://genealogyreligion.net/why-hunter-...er-beliefs

Despite this variety, one can identify certain common themes, motifs and tropes that are characteristic of hunter-gatherer metaphysics.

As the site points out, humans spent most of their time as hunter/gatherers.

[GrandizerII]

One quibble, Brian.  It is how they evolve.  A bunch of Midianite tribesmen worshiping the volcano god, yah, in the Sinai could easily create a site-specific religion which would meet their needs.  But then, other ideas creep in and you end up with the fucking bible.

Ok, "evolve", but the video is pointing to our species early pattern seeking and that is where they all really stem from, worship of nature and animals and seasons changing.

If you do enough study of worldwide religions in our species history you can see even without direct connections the same false perceptions being created simply with different details. Even independently things like worship of constellations and fear of comets. 

The 13 part COSMOS series hosted by Neil makes those parallels as well.

That's one thing. It's another to argue that, therefore, that some story was a blatant copy of a prior one. You'd have to provide specific evidence for such. It also doesn't help that numerology happens to be part of the OP video argument. I get peeved when Christians and Muslims do numerology with their books to make certain arguments. Why should I all of a sudden feel differently when atheists do so?

[Brian37]

Ok, "evolve", but the video is pointing to our species early pattern seeking and that is where they all really stem from, worship of nature and animals and seasons changing.

If you do enough study of worldwide religions in our species history you can see even without direct connections the same false perceptions being created simply with different details. Even independently things like worship of constellations and fear of comets. 

The 13 part COSMOS series hosted by Neil makes those parallels as well.

That's one thing. It's another to argue that, therefore, that some story was a blatant copy of a prior one. You'd have to provide specific evidence for such. It also doesn't help that numerology happens to be part of the OP video argument. I get peeved when Christians and Muslims do numerology with their books to make certain arguments. Why should I all of a sudden feel differently when atheists do so?

It is a copy. Neither that video or I here now am claiming direct connections in all cases. It is no different than carbonated water being sold as a medicine, then someone else seeing that, adding sugar and food coloring and calling it soda, then someone else seeing that, starting their own soda company and giving it a different name and adding different flavors do that for a hundred years, some of he early competitors don't exist anymore. With religion you are talking even way longer periods of time in terms of thousands of years for connections to be lost. 

Christianity is a mix of all sort of things, but the one thing no religion is anywhere in the world is original. You always have prior generations and competing generations and even independent motifs that are similar.

[Complidudaaldo]

what are you talking about? religion stems from theology and ideology, not material influences... LOL.
that's pretty basic. since religion isn't material, it's internal, and external.

lets be practical.

[bennyboy]

It's very interesting, but some of it is clearly bullshit.

The shape of Virgo, for example, looks like "M" to us, but I cannot believe that the Mayans, while they may have had the "M" sound, would have recognized Latin or Greek characters in the stars. The reason that mother figures would start with "M," it seems to me, is that "M" is very easy for babies to say, and mothers would get first dibs on their babies' sounds.

[bennyboy]

what are you talking about? religion stems from theology and ideology, not material influences... LOL.
that's pretty basic. since religion isn't material, it's internal, and external.

lets be practical.

I think you say a lot of stuff, but think about very little.  Most people here have studied a little bit about the history of religion-- but you clearly do not have any knowledge of anything beyond the tip of your nose.

[Brian37]

what are you talking about? religion stems from theology and ideology, not material influences... LOL.
that's pretty basic. since religion isn't material, it's internal, and external.

lets be practical.

Um our ideas get spread through very physical actions, verbally alone you cause physical sound waves that to to someone else's ears that they interpret, and when we exchange those physical actions we turn them into material things like books and buildings representing those ideas. Ideas are not physical things themselves no, but we put them into physical interpretations of our ideas.

[The Grand Nudger]

If ideas are stored, in our brain..then they're -also- material. In any case, it's ludicrous to speak of religion as though it were without material influence. You won't be able to provide an explanation for why people pray to raingod, and when...without referencing them.