Comment by Allen Sneed on July 5, 2010 at 10:04pm

Interesting, but pure speculation. I can think of a dozen more convincing reasons for the "invention" of religion.

Comment by Morgan Matthew on July 5, 2010 at 11:59pm

This is fantastic!

Comment by Gaytor on July 6, 2010 at 2:37am

Allen, the one that my Anthropology Instructor talked about was the ritual burials of Neanderthals in France. There were flower petals found along with burials indicating reverence and other reasons to assume that there was spirituality and protection going on. Some would argue that was where religion began. I just liked this guys premise. It speaks to me because it's similar to what we see in animal packs with the old being pushed out and being replaced by the young.

Thanks Morgan.

Comment by Ivan Long on July 6, 2010 at 1:06pm

If this needs to be explained to someone I only hope they are around ten years old.

Comment by Allen Sneed on July 6, 2010 at 6:46pm

I don't mean to be argumentative, but the premise of this video just doesn't make very much sense. It seems like belief in a "higher power" would necessarily precede the manipulation of said belief for personal gain.

For example, which of the following statements seems more plausible? 1.) I, the alpha male, have complete authority because a higher power in the clouds that you never heard of says so. 2.) I, the alpha male, have complete authority because the higher power in the clouds that you all already believe in says so.

It seems apparent to me that belief in a higher power must have come first. Then those in power exploited that belief for their own gain.

Comment by Gaytor on July 7, 2010 at 12:07am

No need to be bashful Allen, argue away. Don't think that anyone of us can see the big picture of it all on every subject.

If you baby step the youngsters early on into these traditions of a being in the sky, you would certainly have more success that you would just flipping the script one day. I would agree that the likely success of walking out like Bill Maher saying "New Rule' is a likely fail.

I just thought that the vid was an interesting twist for my perspective. I've always pictured the beginnings of religion as a way for explaining the world and/or a way for dealing with death.

Comment by Ciprian on July 7, 2010 at 12:43am

Allen, that is why children are indoctrinated with terrifying stories of the wrath of god asap. Of course nowadays, people indoctrinate their children because they actually believe in God, but it is entirely plausible that the alpha male of a society who foresees his decline in power, or a alpha male who notices past alpha males fail at this endeavor, will pick up the idea and have it be taught to the children. If the parent won't do it, than he can surely take the children away and have them indoctrinated. This is entirely within the alpha male's range of power (or force).

It seems to me that you should reconsider the ways in which children can be indoctrinated in an alpha male dominated society. Also, remember that so long as it retains this structure, there is much time, and many generations of alpha males, for the process of indoctrination to be realized.

Comment by Gaytor on July 10, 2010 at 12:49am

I saw your comment before Ciprian. No malice was meant by my comment on your page. I was trying to be social to someone who did comment on one of my posts but erased it. I was trying to be encouraging. While we may have not communicated well, our positions on this subject are very much the same.

Comment by Ciprian on July 11, 2010 at 11:24pm

Indeed our comments point out the same thing, but your comment seemed provocative. So, if you were being encouraging that... sorry for the misunderstanding... and great video!

Comment by Joann Brady on July 13, 2010 at 8:05am

interesting.......but you really don't get much punishment after death, and certainly no endless torture after death until the rise of christianity. You also don't find too many placed where there was only one god making and enforcing all the rules. Do we even have old testament kings using fear of godly retaliation to secure their reigns?

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