My theory that all major religions, and by that I mean the really serious ones, christianity, judaism, buddhism, wicca etc.... are all guidelines to humans to ensure the ultimate survival of the human race, Christians say Jesus was God because Jesus was the perfect human, perfect to the survival of the human race, except that he did not mate (maybe, not sure). I just found that all religious laws try to keep Humans from killing eachother. I don't know its in progress.

Despite such religions being generally against the killing of others, they have ended up costing the lives of millions througjout the ages all over a belief.

Granted, we are much more civilized today than back in those eras, but the point still stands.

Religions with figurehead authorities also usually have ulterior motives as well. Take for example, the Pope declaring Muhammad as the antichrist and getting the followers of the Catholic Church to go out and kill Muslims in order to acquire more land. How do you think the RCC became the single largest landowning organization in the world? It certainly wasn't through purchase, I can tell you that.

The simple fact of the matter is, man has spent incalculably more time and resources in the pursuit of war, than he ever did in the pursuit of peace.

If there's any idea that would ensure the ultimate survival of the human race for as long as possible, it would be secular humanism. But due to the fact that people will disagree, many times to the point where they try to destroy each other, I see such ideals not working out in the end.

I mean, a worldwide utopia would be a great thing to have, but it can't happen because people will disagree. They either separate and go about their individual ways, or they kill each other over it. A compromise is rarely ever achieved. Just look at this Israel/Palestine conflict that has been raging on for centuries. They are just going to continue killing each other until one or more sides are gone.

quote:Originally posted by Hammer&Sickle:

Christians say Jesus was God because Jesus was the perfect human, perfect to the survival of the human race, except that he did not mate (maybe, not sure). Funny view about that, there is a place "the" place, they call it, in france, called "Rennes-le-château", where weird stuff happened, and some of the many explanations hold that it's Jesus' burial place, as well as his wives and sons.

Thus some say the Grail is around there.

You know, the kind of places the nazis would search during their invasions, as in "indiana jones and the lost ark". If so, then well he would have women and offsprings(maybe that one hippie with an angel face seen on the roadside, who knows...) http://www.totse.com/bbs/wink.gif (http://www.totse.com/bbs/wink.gif) quote: I just found that all religious laws try to keep Humans from killing eachother. I don't know its in progress. Yeah, well all laws aim at improving the state of mankind, but they are diverted by the corrupt lawmakers and finally and up doing the opposite, like encouraging killings and bloodshed.

well it goes against our other instinct to kill others so we survive.

yes, hammer & sickle; i do believe you're on the right track. however, i think the point of religions is somewhat more broad (of) an idea than that, actually.

at least the major religions were likely created as a means to enforce the ''golden rule,'' or a slightly altered version thereof. in the case that you're unfamiliar, the golden rule is stated as such: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

the aforementioned alternative golden rule would be a revised edition which says: do unto others as they would like to have done unto them.

being that most people would rather not be murdered, your theory is indeed a major contribution to the reason behind (major organized) religions, i think.

Well thought theory, but IMO religion is merely a gropuping of people with similar beliefs. It has nothing to do with human survival. There are over 33,000 religions in the world, and they all pop up due to disagreements and interpretations.

quote:Originally posted by Dark_Magneto:

religions....have ended up costing the lives of millions throughout the ages, all over a belief.

More root causes would be: fear and greed. You even said so in your example of Catholicism's wealth. And, religion is used as a banner to rally men, as you also pointed out. I don't disagree with any of that, but even if you remove religion (in a "global utopia"), then these root causes will still manifest themselves in some other manner.

quote:If there's any idea that would ensure the ultimate survival of the human race for as long as possible, it would be secular humanism.

How so? And religion doesn't hamper survival anyway. In a worst case scenario, one religion completely annihilates all others: that's not even close to extinction. And they would see the benefit of a humanist-centric economy more than competitors would.

That's a group of certain individuals propagating themselves, not mankind as a whole.

I was just saying, if everyone could get past their petty differences and want what is good for the whole and not the select few, then mankind would make much more progress and war wouldn't be a factor in wiping out mankind.

quote:Originally posted by Dark_Magneto:

How do you think the RCC became the single largest landowning organization in the world? It certainly wasn't through purchase, I can tell you that.

The RCC got most of its land holdings from other Christians, by hook or by crook as it were. And they certainly didn't get much from the Muslims. Actually, when you consider the lands the Muslims stole from the Christians, they're still coming away at quite a tidy profit.

quote:Originally posted by Dark_Magneto:

...what is good for the whole...

...isn't good for any of the individuals, and certainly isn't a valuable method to ensure survival. Natural Selection doesn't care about the individual's need for inclusion (opportunity, equality, etc.), it merely votes, yea or nay.

Besides that, population levels are such that consideration of the "whole" becomes dangerous for the "whole". In the context of survival, a massive religious war would be healthy for the species. With a globally contiguous population, speciation won't occur anyway, so extinction then comes from; an outside cataclysmic force (asteroid collision), or the depletion of a sustaining environment.

quote:Originally posted by Hammer&Sickle:

well it goes against our other instinct to kill others so we survive.

On the contrary, killing is a natural human instinct, born of the universal instinct to dominate. It can be softened considerably by societal conditioning, but violence is in us from the start.