I read through the Paleolithic Art and Religion and was intrigued. It was interesting how even the very earliest civilizations began forming religion and worshiping. Also I thought it made sense how religion and politics/government would go together because at that point they were one in the same, probably because both systems were far less complex than present day. I couldn’t help but compare this with the idea that religion is an inherent part of human nature, if religion was not a naturally occurring or developed evolutionary trait, than why has it been around just about as long as humans? Religion has had such a big part in just about everything because it seems to be semi essential to mankind’s ability to thrive. I also have thought about how a government would work if it was involved with religion? Would it create more unified groups or cause a lot more issues. The world has many different types of people it seems hard to believe that church and state would not have negative effects and be too restricting. After seeing so many examples of how big a part religion played in all civilizations I am pretty convinced that there is some need for religious practice. I’m not sure exactly what that need is though.
You bring up a lot of interesting philosophical questions about religion in this post. Religion, politics and government are magistrates that remain intertwined in many societies today, even in democracies. Religion, as you describe it, seems “semi-essential to mankind’s ability to thrive” and thus that is why it seems inseparable from these ideas. However, there are many thinkers who believe that religion has no place in government/politics and our accepted agglomeration of ideas. Whereas there are equally as many practitioners of faith, here is where a particularly interesting impasse occurs. We encounter both types of epistemology and the cultural clash that divides them--religious and non-religious institutions. Which instinctive mental capacity do we choose to follow? Have we, as humans, been wrestling with our logic/faith/and intuitive grasp of the spiritual since the Paleolithic?
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