Society and Religion

Origin, development, control, foundations, darkness, and the necessity of religion in human civilization

Origin of religion – why and how?

To understand the emergence of religion, we have to go back to the dawn of human civilization, when humans had no scientific tools to explain the mysteries of nature.

For early humans, mere survival was the greatest daily struggle. Standing face to face with this struggle, some fundamental questions and fears arose in their minds, which are the main reasons behind the origin of religion:

Fear of the unknown and the search for explanations: Why does lightning occur? Why do pandemics come? Why does the sun set and rise? When there was no scientific explanation, people assumed that behind all this there was one or more invisible, powerful “great forces” at work.

The desire for control: Storms, rain, or drought were not under human control. So, to appease those invisible forces and keep them favorable, humans introduced systems of worship, prayer, and sacrifice.

Fear of death and the need for comfort: “What happens after death?” – in searching for an answer to this eternal question and to cope with the grief of losing loved ones, humans developed the ideas of an afterlife or rebirth, which provide comfort to the mind.

The psychological basis of religion

Evolutionary psychologist Pascal Boyer, in his influential book Religion Explained (2001), argued that religion emerged from some basic human cognitive capacities – especially from humans’ tendency toward “agency detection” or searching for intention. Early humans looked for some “will” or “intentional force” behind lightning, floods, or drought. This psychological process gradually gave birth to gods, spirits, and religious beliefs.

Anthropologist Edward Tylor (1871) proposed that the earliest form of religion is “animism” – the imagination that every object in nature has life or a soul. From this, polytheism and monotheism gradually developed.

Social and political causes

Not only psychological factors, but social and political factors also played a role in the development of religion. Émile Durkheim, in his The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912), showed that religion is fundamentally a social phenomenon – it holds society together, creates collective beliefs, and works as an instrument of social control.

Karl Marx spoke even more sharply: “Religion is the opium of the people.” According to him, religion has been used as a tool to make the oppressed forget their worldly suffering and to legitimize the power of the ruling class.

In short: religion emerged from a combination of human ignorance, fear, the need for social cohesion, and the politics of power. Religion did not arise to establish morality – morality is an older social evolutionary process than religion.

Which came first – religion or morality?

This is an ancient question in philosophy – Plato raised it in his dialogue Euthyphro.

Anthropological and evolutionary evidence say – morality came first.

Among primates we see behaviors of empathy, a sense of fairness, and mutual help – where there is no religion. In early human societies, for group survival, the sense of “do not harm others”, “share with others” developed first. Religion came later and gave these moral senses structure, narrative, and sacredness.

The contribution of religion is – to codify morality, spread it across large, unfamiliar groups, and provide a supernatural reason to follow it.

Which religion has lasted the longest on earth?

The longevity of a religion is not proof of moral superiority; rather, it reflects the success of its social and political structures in surviving.

Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma is considered the world’s oldest living religious tradition, with roots at least 4,000–5,000 years back in the Indus Valley Civilization. However, perhaps most remarkable are animist and shamanist traditions – which, without taking any institutional form, have survived in human societies for more than 40,000 years.

Judaism is about 3,500 years old. Buddhism and Jainism are more than two and a half thousand years old. Christianity is about 2,000 years old, and Islam is about 1,400 years old.

The noteworthy point is: in this long history, every religion has been involved in countless wars, persecutions, and injustices in the name of morality. Longevity is not a measure of moral success. Even though religions have survived for thousands of years, there is no historical or factual example that they have created morality in the societies where they existed. Rather, almost all religions contain numerous morally deficient commands, rituals, and examples of violence.

Which is the most influential religion?

In terms of numbers, Christianity is today the world’s largest religion – with about 2.4 billion followers. Next is Islam – about 1.9 billion. Hinduism is third – about 1.2 billion.

But influence is not only about numbers. Islam is the most discussed religion in today’s global politics, because it is a religion that seeks to intervene directly in the governance of the state, law, and society. Buddhism has had an unparalleled influence in philosophy and psychology.

But the important question is: if a religion is influential, does that make the society of its followers the most moral? The data say – no. Religious influence does not play any role in creating morality in society. Morality is something larger than religion; it is universal.

Why did Europe walk the path of civilization by freeing itself from religious rule?
European history gives us the most important lesson.

The darkness of the Middle Ages

In medieval Europe, the Catholic Church held supreme power. In the name of the Inquisition, thousands of people were killed. Galileo was sent to prison for the “crime” of stating scientific truth. Rivers of blood were shed in the name of the Crusades.

Historian Barbara Tuchman, in her A Distant Mirror (1978), showed that the more religious authority there was in medieval Europe, the more violence, corruption, and ignorance there were in society.

Renaissance and the Enlightenment

Change came with the Renaissance (14th–17th centuries) and the Enlightenment (17th–18th centuries). Immanuel Kant declared: “Sapere aude!” – “Dare to think for yourself!” John Locke, Voltaire, Rousseau – they established that the basis of morality is not God’s command, but human reason and mutual agreement.

In France, the Revolution of 1789 separated religious authority from the state.
The U.S. Constitution established the separation of church and state.

What was the result?

Sociologist Phil Zuckerman, in his research Society Without God (2008), showed that the Scandinavian countries – which are among the least religious in today’s world – are also among the least crime-prone, the happiest, and the least corrupt.

Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland – in these countries only about 20–30% of people consider themselves religious. Yet in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, these countries repeatedly rank at the top.

In contrast, the countries with the highest levels of religious practice – Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan – are among the most advanced in corruption and social instability.