Do We Really Need Religions?

Do We Really Need RELIGIONS? This is a short account of human evolution from Bronze Age religious myths to experimental democracy. An inspection of major religions indicates that they are all sur-pris¬ingly similar, tending towards monotheism. A trait common to all is a condescending, even hostile, attitude to humankind. Man exists only to please the Lord and to be punished for his sins. The origin of religions probably was the awe and fear instilled by parents. Monotheism motivated human beings to explore the universe, created and ruled by an almighty God. This single deity guaranteed that the laws of nature had to be the same everywhere in the universe. This proved to be the case, and research became a great success. The Holy Scriptures, however, tell us nothing about the structure of the world, as if the Creator had not known what he had produced. Monotheism also created wars between factions sharing a single God under different names and Scriptures. Increasing numbers of intellectuals now refuse to base their lives on ancient mythologies and realize that we need a social philosophy that focuses on humans, rather than spirits. They wish to abandon religion for democracy, which already exists but badly needs to be perfected.