"How much is opium for the people?" Ostap Bender asked Father Fyodor in the novel by Ilf and Petrov "12 chairs" and did not receive an answer. We will try to find answers to other questions concerning such a delicate and delicate topic of our existence as religion. Why is she, what gives a person and can society do without her? And we will try to find these answers with the help of science.
APPEARANCE
The deeper scientists plunge into the history of the emergence and formation of the human race, the more they are convinced that religiosity has always been inherent in it. One gets the impression that an inquisitive mind, fearlessly exploring the laws of nature and an all-encompassing religious feeling, forcing a person to bow his head before the greatness and incomprehensibility of God, are phenomena of the same order - the properties inherent in a person initially, like upright posture. However, the impression, no matter how bright and stable it may be, is not yet a proven fact, and therefore let's see what science tells us about this. And she tells us that there are several theories about the emergence of religion. So the naturalistic theory claims that man "created" the gods (and then God) because he could not rationally explain the observed natural phenomena. Our distant ancestors unwittingly endowed the powerful forces of nature with reason and feelings, tried to appease them, as a result of which spirits, gods, and religious rituals "arose". Sociological theory, which is largely echoed by the Marxist theory, believes that religion arose due to the development of society. They say that the norms and rules by which primitive society lived formed the basis of the first religions, and belief in the supernatural is a spiritual need of man. At the same time, religion, as a "form of social consciousness" (according to Marx and Engels), is intended to regulate the life and development of society.that religion arose through the development of society. They say that the norms and rules by which primitive society lived formed the basis of the first religions, and belief in the supernatural is a spiritual need of man. At the same time, religion, as a "form of social consciousness" (according to Marx and Engels), is intended to regulate the life and development of society.that religion arose through the development of society. They say that the norms and rules by which primitive society lived formed the basis of the first religions, and belief in the supernatural is a spiritual need of man. At the same time, religion, as a "form of social consciousness" (according to Marx and Engels), is intended to regulate the life and development of society.
There are other theories of varying degrees of originality and provability. But all are just theories, none of which has received universal acceptance, like Einstein's theory of relativity or the theory of the Big Bang. What to talk about, if even in the definition of the concept of "religion" scientists cannot reach agreement?
SPREAD
Be that as it may, the same scientists note that any religion, having arisen, gains almost instantaneous distribution. Especially if she is able to well overcome ethnic, cultural, political and other boundaries, as, for example, happened with Christianity or Islam. Why is this happening? Some researchers believe that the phenomenon of the spread of religion is very similar to that through which viruses spread. Both real and computer. Let's take a living cell. She ideally "knows how" to copy "instructions" that are written as a sequence (code) of nucleotides in a DNA or RNA molecule. What is a virus? Recorded with the same code "instruction" that reads: "Multiply me immediately!" Therefore, the cell and the virus fit together perfectly. The same is with a computer virus, which is a malicious instruction program,written down by the code in the form of zeros and ones and intended for unrestrained reproduction and penetration into as many computers as possible. And the computer is just designed to read and reproduce such "instructions".
Promotional video:
Now let's take the human brain. It is ideally suited to assimilate, execute, and transmit similar "instructional" programs. What are "letters of happiness" everyone knows? "Whoever reads this and passes it on will receive a lot of money in five days." And a general madness begins … By the way, not only religions spread almost instantly, capturing tens and hundreds of millions of minds and hearts, ideologies too. A sweet life would be promised.
RELIEF
There is no doubt that for each individual, the religion he has adopted is, first of all, consolation and relief. It is easier for a religious, believing person to endure the hardships of life, because, firstly, he always hopes for the help of supernatural forces, and secondly, for an eternal happy life, which is prepared for those who fulfill the commandments and necessary rituals. But society as a whole? How much does religion make life easier for him? We all remember well the history of our country, which for more than seventy years tried to do without religion. Yes, in many respects it was replaced by the ideology of Marxism-Leninism, but still not to the end, since the main thing - a firm promise of an eternal new world, where there will be no humiliated and insulted, everyone will be happy and never die, communism could not give. More precisely, he could, but without the last point. And this,agree, a significant difference. Because it's one thing when they promise eternal happy life to your country and the world as a whole, and quite another to you personally. We all know how the attempt to do without religion ended for us - the USSR collapsed. Let's say thank you for surviving Russia. Of course, it is not scientific to argue that the collapse occurred due to the fact that we have so long and massively rejected faith in God. We do not approve. We just consider and compare the facts. By the way, in Nazi Germany, religion was also not favored (unlike mysticism), and the leadership of the Third Reich believed that “… National Socialist and Christian ideas are incompatible … If, therefore, in the future our youth will not know anything about Christianity, whose doctrines are in many ways inferior to ours, Christianity will disappear by itself”(Martin Bormann). It is not necessary to tell how the Third Reich ended.significant difference. Because it's one thing when they promise eternal happy life to your country and the world as a whole, and quite another to you personally. We all know how the attempt to do without religion ended for us - the USSR collapsed. Let's say thank you for surviving Russia. Of course, it is not scientific to argue that the collapse occurred due to the fact that we have so long and massively rejected faith in God. We do not approve. We just consider and compare the facts. By the way, in Nazi Germany, religion was also not favored (unlike mysticism), and the leadership of the Third Reich believed that “… National Socialist and Christian ideas are incompatible … If, therefore, in the future our youth will not know anything about Christianity, whose doctrines are in many ways inferior to ours, Christianity will disappear by itself”(Martin Bormann). It is not necessary to tell how the Third Reich ended.significant difference. Because it's one thing when they promise eternal happy life to your country and the world as a whole, and quite another to you personally. We all know how the attempt to do without religion ended for us - the USSR collapsed. Let's say thank you for surviving Russia. Of course, it is not scientific to argue that the collapse occurred due to the fact that we have so long and massively rejected faith in God. We do not approve. We just consider and compare the facts. By the way, in Nazi Germany, religion was also not favored (unlike mysticism), and the leadership of the Third Reich believed that “… National Socialist and Christian ideas are incompatible … If, therefore, in the future our youth will not know anything about Christianity, whose doctrines are in many ways inferior to ours, Christianity will disappear by itself”(Martin Bormann). It is not necessary to tell how the Third Reich ended. Because it's one thing when they promise eternal happy life to your country and the world as a whole, and quite another to you personally. We all know how the attempt to do without religion ended for us - the USSR collapsed. Let's say thank you for surviving Russia. Of course, it is not scientific to argue that the collapse occurred due to the fact that we have so long and massively rejected faith in God. We do not approve. We just consider and compare the facts. By the way, in Nazi Germany, religion was also not favored (unlike mysticism), and the leadership of the Third Reich believed that “… National Socialist and Christian ideas are incompatible … If, therefore, in the future our youth will not know anything about Christianity, whose doctrines are in many ways inferior to ours, Christianity will disappear by itself”(Martin Bormann). It is not necessary to tell how the Third Reich ended. Because it's one thing when they promise eternal happy life to your country and the world as a whole, and quite another to you personally. We all know how the attempt to do without religion ended for us - the USSR collapsed. Let's say thank you for surviving Russia. Of course, it is not scientific to argue that the collapse occurred due to the fact that we have so long and massively rejected faith in God. We do not approve. We just consider and compare the facts. By the way, in Nazi Germany, religion was also not favored (unlike mysticism), and the leadership of the Third Reich believed that “… National Socialist and Christian ideas are incompatible … If, therefore, in the future our youth will not know anything about Christianity, whose doctrines are in many ways inferior to ours, Christianity will disappear by itself”(Martin Bormann). It is not necessary to tell how the Third Reich ended.when eternal happy life is promised to your country and the world in general, and something completely different - to you personally. We all know how the attempt to do without religion ended for us - the USSR collapsed. Let's say thank you for surviving Russia. Of course, it is not scientific to argue that the collapse occurred due to the fact that we have so long and massively rejected faith in God. We do not approve. We just consider and compare the facts. By the way, in Nazi Germany, religion was also not favored (unlike mysticism), and the leadership of the Third Reich believed that “… National Socialist and Christian ideas are incompatible … If, therefore, in the future our youth will not know anything about Christianity, whose doctrines are in many ways inferior to ours, Christianity will disappear by itself”(Martin Bormann). It is not necessary to tell how the Third Reich ended.when eternal happy life is promised to your country and the world in general, and something completely different - to you personally. We all know how the attempt to do without religion ended for us - the USSR collapsed. Let's say thank you for surviving Russia. Of course, it is not scientific to argue that the collapse occurred due to the fact that we have so long and massively rejected faith in God. We do not approve. We just consider and compare the facts. By the way, in Nazi Germany, religion was also not favored (unlike mysticism), and the leadership of the Third Reich believed that “… National Socialist and Christian ideas are incompatible … If, therefore, in the future our youth will not know anything about Christianity, whose doctrines are in many ways inferior to ours, Christianity will disappear by itself”(Martin Bormann). It is not necessary to tell how the Third Reich ended.
And here's what science says. In the 19th century, there were a lot of diverse communities in the United States, based on both religious ideas and communist ones. And a comparative analysis shows that the former, on average, existed much longer than the latter. And some still live and develop well - the same Amish, for example.
It turns out that religion, better than ideology, promotes loyalty to society, a willingness to put its interests above one's own. This means that the survival rate of a society in which religion, at least, is not persecuted, is higher than that of an atheistic one. By the way, the same comparative analysis shows that religions in which God or gods are not indifferent to human morality, spread much faster and wider than those where the gods do not care how a person behaves. And finally, remember that the very word "religion" comes from the Latin verb religare, which means "to bind, to reunite."
UNITY
Science and religion have always been antagonists. Nevertheless, in recent decades there has been a noticeable convergence. And the point is not only that a considerable number of scientists accept God, and the ministers of the Church are not alien to scientific ideas and hypotheses - this has always been so, to one degree or another. No, we are talking about close cooperation and unification in the name of a vital goal for all. Namely - about the salvation of planet Earth. Alas, humanity continues to put private, momentary interests above public and long-term ones. Forests - under the saw. The bowels are to be scooped out to the bottom. Water - use and pollute. Wild animals - to destroy. Here is a program that, to be honest with ourselves, we have stubbornly followed throughout our history. And it is not only greedy capitalist industrialists and politicians who are to blame. Scientists and priests also made significant contributions. The former spoke out loudly about the "conquest" of Nature, the "conquest" of the Cosmos and rarely thought about the consequences of their discoveries. As for the second, in the Book of Genesis, for example, God directly tells people: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the beasts, and over the birds of the air, and over all cattle., and over all the earth …"
So we got hold of it, got it so that it’s time to think - how long are we all left at such a pace? It is time, scientifically speaking, “to change the paradigm,” but in Russian, to “turn the shafts” and save our common home. And here the joint assistance to humanity of science and religion can be invaluable. The first will come up with and teach how to do this, and the second will bring the necessary spiritual component into the process. And we will all be happy.
Akim Bukhtatov