Ok, if they’re wholly self-serving, that would make religions soley a burden on a society/group, with no offsetting benefits. Rendering those religiously inclined groups/societies less competitive throughout history.
Why then is there no seeming evidence, nor surviving modern example of, an irreligious society…?
There are, and statistics show that the less religion a country has, the more peaceful and law abiding they are.
youtube.com/watch?v=VdtwTeBPYQA
There are off-setting benefits, for the in group.
There is no benefit to the out group as demonstrated by the use of inquisitions and jihads by those who have no decent moral arguments to convert and must resort to murder.
Regards
DL
No, I mean if religions are so destabilizing to a society as your research suggests, why do all surviving societies in the world have one…?
Why wasn’t the entire world domimated by irreligious groups throughout history…?
The Noble Lie fostered by the Kings who did not have time to micro manage the Temple Prostitutes used by the religions.
It was also a good way, like any fraud, for kings to get their cash back by fooling the people.
youtube.com/watch?v=b8C6uJ66wv8
You seem to forget the plethora of gods that peopled followed. They prayed to one for this, another for that.
Don’t forget that all the gods are, are adult fairy tales, and we love our drama.
Regards
DL
Because religion teaches that if you question authority (wealth), that you’ll be sent to hell forever. Capitalists literally masterbate to religion, it keeps the dollars rolling in!
What we are “by nature” we don’t invent. A religious attitude is natural to humans. When modern people find themselves unable to subscribe to one or the other orthodox faith, they look for a substitute. Secular totalitarian states like fascism and communism grow out of the religiosity of human nature.
Greatest I Am,
They made a choice. Perhaps living in the moment and becoming all that they could become (which would be impossible in a patriarchal world) was much more important to them than an eternal life which they could never be sure of. Our first rebels. 
The Adam and Eve story isn’t the recounting of a historical event. It’s a myth that shows us the contrast between paradise and our existential situation. If Adam and Eve ate the fruit the tree of life and lived happily ever after forever the story wouldn’t reflect the way things are.
Like I’ve said a “million” times on these boards. In order to falsify god, all one need do is ask “is my consent being violated right now?” Yes, for every being in existence — it is!”
I’ve studied comparative religion quite a bit. I’ve read well over 1000 “holy names for god”. Not a single one of those names even resembles “the great eradicator of consent violation”
That’s because gods can all be falsified as GOOD or BAD by one by using this heuristic.
Of course religion is going to state that eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is going to send mankind to hell. That means that you’re judging plutocrats!!
Religions are basically tribal units and yes, we are naturally tribal. Religious liars have used our nature against us forever.
We all have a natural mental itch that there is something higher than ourselves, but it takes lying preachers to make us believe that their homophobic and misogynous gods, who is genocidal, is somehow good.
I agree that religions are fascist.
The Vatican being Hitler’s bank and their helping Hitler’s brass escape after WWII shows the truth of this.
Regards
DL
That, and without the knowledge in the tree of knowledge, they could not know if immortality was a good or evil thing.
Not to mention that they could not class Yahweh or Satan or anything else as good or evil.
Regards
DL
Does anybody, besides myself, know what the Tree of Knowledge actually is? If you did, you would know that the question and answer are both invalid. You assume they were offered eternal life in exchange for obedience, but that isn’t what the parable is about. Were they offered eternal life? Did they know what they were consuming when they ate from the tree? If you don’t know what the tree is, then it’s possible that you have already eaten a big bellyful of its fruit, without ever stopping to ask yourself what the consequences might be. Eating from the tree was inevitable, and shouldn’t be thought of as an eventful choice between two alternatives. Certain choices were available to them, but they did everything exactly as was expected of them.
Ok, so, ecmandu, greatest - would you agree religion seems to be a tool to bolster authority…?
Umm… dude.
The tree of life is a different tree.
As the story goes in genesis, the instant Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge, god cast them out of eden so that it would now be impossible for them to eat from the tree of life.
I have to add here:
I really hate Buddhism.
Buddhist teachings are that nobody can possibly sin because EVERYTHING is your “karma”
Someone kidnaps you to torture you “hostel style” like the movie Hostel.
They say to you “I am cleansed of all my sins because this is your karma, all I can possibly do is the right thing”
God people do the same thing, “I wouldn’t be allowed to do this if God didn’t ordain it, I’m sinless in gods eyes”
Nice to see a sound mind.
Regards
DL
Yes. If not, it would follow truth and not foster supernatural lies.
Note that all inquisitions and jihads, the favored tool to end all opposition to the lying authorities within those religions, is all the religions had to grow as they do not have decent moral arguments to convert.
Regards
DL
That is not what the myth says if you read it sequentially and do not alter or add to it the way you have done.
It says that after they were expelled, god murdered his new children by negligence and neglect and wantonly locked up what would have kept them alive. The tree of life.
Did A & E deserve chastisement and death when your own Christian Exultet hymn says that Adam’s sin was a happy fault and necessary to god’s plan.
If necessary to god’s plan, why do you think their furthering and maintaining god’s plan is wrong?
Would you prefer that they derail god’s plan?
I do not expect you to answer as most just run from that logic and reason even as it is endorsed by your own hymn.
Regards
DL
Dude. You’re wrong. The tree of life was also in eden.
By expelling Adam and Eve from the garden for eating from the tree of knowledge, god made 100% sure that they could never eat from the tree of life.
I did not make this up in anyway sequentially or not.
You know, for someone who posts on the Bible a lot …
You actually don’t even know the basics.
You shuffling the scriptures show your lack of whit and poor reading comprehension.
Your ignoring that you sing and seem to prefer that god’s plan be derailed.
If you do not have the whit to deal with your own contradictions, then I would say that you are the one who does not know your basics.
It seems we are at a stalemate and done here, so thinks for the chat.
Regards
DL
I’m an atheist dude!
You are wrong about scripture.