Excerpt #21 from my book, Religion, An Obstacle to Human Progress
To survive, we organize ourselves under the umbrella of belief systems to join together with others for reasons of mutual security.
We develop belief systems in the areas of religion, politics, economics and social interaction.
From these belief systems, we establish institutions such as churches or sects, political parties/governments, and businesses.
All for the purpose of survival.
Ironically, all of these institutions, which together form our dominant culture, are ultimately dysfunctional and driving us toward extinction.
Because our beliefs and belief systems are about survival, we are defensive of them.
WE DEFEND TO THE DEATH EVEN OUR OWN IDIOCY.
In regard to religion, in particular, when someone asks us if we believe in God or more precisely, what our religion is, what they are really asking is, are we a member of their club, their team, their tribe?
Are we on their side in the epic battle of survival?
It’s all about tribalism.
Perhaps that is why Lemuel Washburn in his book Is the Bible Worth Reading wrote, “Most men would kill the truth if truth would kill
their religion.”
So, it is perfectly understandable that those who share both political and religious beliefs would like to join forces to dictate and control the way everyone lives their life.