On the Purpose of Religion: Causality

By causality I mean explanations for the apparently unexplainable, e.g. the creation of the universe or complex natural phenomena. This is most obvious in ancient religions like those of Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome, but they continue today. Indeed, this facet of religion causes the most controversy when science and doctrine conflict.

While the ancient Greeks were a quickly developing civilization, they were mystified by innumerable natural phenomena like earthquakes, waves, lightning, and seasons. The human need for explanation was met by creation of gods and myths. Earthquakes were a result of the gods' anger. Large waves were created by Poseidon, while lightning bolts were thrown by Zeus from the clouds. The changing seasons were a result of Demeter's grief over the loss of her daughter to Hades.

One of the most universal features of religious explanation is creation. How was the Earth created? How was life created? How were we created? These are the deep questions that religion attempts to answer. While other religious explanations have been rejected as we have learned the physical mechanisms of natural phenomena, creation myths have an abnormal sticking capacity, perhaps because they are more personal or fundamental.

For example, while the idea of the Earth moving around the sun was heretical in Galileo's era, it has now been accepted as fact. Yet many people believe that the Earth is some thousands rather than billions of years old, when the evidence is equally clear. Likewise, the "war" between creationism and evolution has been raging for centuries, while evidence for natural selection is piling at an ever-increasing rate with advances in genetics, molecular biology, and organic chemistry, among other fields.

I began this list with comfort, which I said was the trait I admire most about religion. I end it here with this abnormal (and annoying) attachment to belief that is characteristic of not just religion but belief itself. Religious phenomena like terrorism, crusades, and outright rejection of evidence are a result of belief's irrefutable nature. There is simply no answer to "because I believe it."