Religion and Humanity

And also: Evangelists are not an impossible resource for the Democrats. Amazing how little is widely known about the Bush Family. For instance, it is hard to believe how so few know about Laura accidentally killing someone while a teenager! Also, putting aside black sheep Neil, who knows the names of Bush Sr.'s other two children -- Marvin and Dorothy, the latter divorced and married to a former aide to Richard Gephardt! Finally, how about the fact that the second oldest child died at about age four of leukemia? A small telling point about how they control information.

In response to a Slate article that takes a doubtful look at those who connection religious belief with our very natures, I offer some rambling comments. ....

Is it really true that no non-human, even higher primates, have some sort of "religious" component to their existence, including things like respecting the dead or the like? I'm not sure if that's true, but that's not my field, so maybe others know.

To the degree it is true, it seems connected to our higher brain capacity, our ability to understand (and need to understand) more abstract questions and concerns. A greater knowledge surely factors into concerns over such things as suffering and its reasons or such. And, rituals would form to deal with such questions, rituals tied to most religions.

For instance, Catholicism centers on sacraments growing from various stages of our life. They stages give rise to rituals and ceremonies honoring them. Thus, things like birth, marriage, and death have a "sacred" character. Again, does this not arise from our greater brain development and so forth?

And also, does no other animal have some primitive "proto-rituals?" I think so, since some primates clearly have broad emotional lives and understandings. This might not raise to the level of a "God," of course, unless for those "masters" who have heightened opinion of themselves vis-a-vis their pets. But, Catholics surely think God in some way touches the lives of animals. Again, it is their lack of knowledge that leads them to fail to fully be aware of it.

For those who do not accept the traditional concept of God, this "understanding" is reached in some other way. Such individuals see some sort of natural laws and moral policies arising from them, and in some fashion create a "religion" to better practice things. The problems with definitions shouldn't let us ignore such a reality.

A reality that again is an imperative in some fashion for everyday man and woman to pursue happiness and contentment. It is clearly somehow tied into our beings, our natures, by evolution and so forth.