Faith is Polite
Most people throughout history have had a belief in some sort of god. This is true throughout most time periods and most cultures. So how is it that so many people from so many places could have such similar beliefs? I think it’s a matter of having manners.
When someone gives us something, or does something nice for us, it’s natural to say “thank you”. But who can you thank for the world we live in? If we don’t know who to thank, then we feel guilty for just accepting this gift. To ease this guilt, we thank a supreme being for giving it to us.
The flip-side to this would be blame, of course. If something goes wrong, it must have happened for a reason. Someone needs to be responsible for an untimely death. It’s too hard to accept bad things happening without a reason. So we blame the same supreme being who gave us this life for taking it away. This is a very emotionally pleasing system, but that doesn’t make it true.
4 years ago