THANKS FOR THE WELCOME

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Ralph wrote... 

What is this necessary function religion serves?  Could 

>> you elaborate on your statement of there being no evidence of evolution 

>> favouring the few who have no need of it.  Much appreciated.

>

ACHILLES

>I am not competent to tell you what the function is, it simply seems

reasonable to suppose that there is one, since every culture on earth, from
the simplest 

>to the most complex, has some form of religion, defined as ritual concern

for 

>the Sacred.


BACH
Perhaps it would have sounded better to me if you had said "human" culture. 
Forgive me, Achilles...hopefully you will know that I'm somewhat tongue in
cheek on this, but the simplest bacteria on earth can have a "culture" and
they have no known religion that any of us humans are aware of, at least as
far as my limited knowledge extends.
Bats, ants, and bees appear to have organized societal structures that
closely resemble culture, yet they have no known religion that we humans
are aware of. Dolphins and whales....the water-borne equivalents of man,
IMO, have no religion that we know of or can understand.
Of course we couldn't know what any of these lower species might hold
sacred or what their ritual concerns for that might be because we are
simply humans who just don't know everything. We are only a part of
nature....not the controller of it, IMO.  

ACHILLES   
And by no evidence I mean no evidence that I know of that atheists are any
more common here and now than in any other comparable place and time, no
evidence that they are any more common now than in earlier times. 

BACH
How much earlier are you willing to consider?  Wouldn't it be rather
difficult to speculate on the beliefs of our very early and primitive
ancestors who existed before written history?
How do you define "comparable place and time", BTW? It's a phrase that has
a familiar ring to it....I'm just not sure what it really means!

ACHILLES 

>> > But certain elements of religion which are actively anti-rational are

a problem. 
 
RALPH
What parts might these be?

ACHILLES

>What parts of religion are actively anti-rational? Any part that demands

you believe something that makes no sense, especially combined with the
threat of 

>eternal punishment for not believing the nonsense! 

>That forces people who buy into the religion to train themselves not to

think clearly, to avoid cognitive dissonance they increasingly avoid
cognition 

>itself. 


BACH
I agree with you here, Achilles.  Where should we start, Ralph?
Water baptism, communion, prayer, miracles, virgin births,
talking donkeys, water turning to wine, etc. etc. etc.

Regards,
Bones Bach
thebachs@fgi.net

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