IMHO god is the ultimate alpha male. All primates and lots of mammals have an alpha male as the leader of the group. Humans groups have a mayor, governor, president, king or some such, usually a male. I think that god is just an extension of this instinct. So why do we need god? Well we don’t need god, per se, but as animals we need instinct and god is just a byproduct of instinct and our ability to create abstractions.
Virtually yours,
DrMatrix
If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you 0.99999999… times.
I think there is something to the hope, fear, social order ideas mentioned above, but there is something far more primal at work.
People need to feel a connection to the Universe. They need to feel that their lives mean something, that they are not just accidents floating in a meaningless void. God provides a purpose to human life and to the cosmos and a connection between the two.
It’s interesting that several substitute gods have been developed fairly recently. Communism and Freudian psychology share many traits with religion and serve as substitutes for some atheists.
True agnosticism is a hard road. The rewards are few, and I suspect that not a few agnostics pray to something in dark times.
Perked Ears indicate curiosity - Know Your Cat
“Mommy, why am I going to church?”
“God, wants you to, Pumpkin.”
“Mommy, what happens when I die?”
“You see God, Hun.”
“Mommy, how did the world get here?”
sighs “God made it.”
“Mommy, why do I have to go to Reconciliation?”
“Because God needs you to confess your sins to that nice priest-man over there, Sweetie.”
“Mommy, why must everything I do be predestined by God, or be the effect of something God did? Is that plausible??”
“Umm…”
Feel free to reply, or throw stones.