When I was at university, as an internal/external student, it was great. We were advised to read widely not only the prescribed books or papers. Now we are on line only and I was chucked out of Religious studies because they felt we had to remain objective, and describe only what new religions believed in. Admittedly they were the extreme ones, heaven's gate, Jedi, Scientology, Davidians, and then asked to describe two of these New Age religions thoughts on deity and ritual. What! 3,500 words. What deity, Ronald L.Hubbard who set himself up as the salvation of the human race who were being controlled by a 350 million old alien and we had inherited Thetans that controlled our personalities. For 50,000 dollars at least he could clear you.
And David Koresh who claimed he was the new Messiah? Was told by an Angel on Mt.Carmel. (Where the Golden Domed Mosque is). How can one remain objective.

Maybe if one visits Israel and see all the money grabbers leaning and exploiting genuine tourists to see various holy spots. Honestly. We are conned so easily. 'Seeing is believing'. Or Lourdes another rip off. But I have relatives that still believe in miracles.

To answer your question, actually one could say we may have evolved biologically and culturally, mainly science and technology in our modern day Western cultures. But psychologically I am sorry I doubt if we have progressed too far as many still need some religious entity trying to make us all believe in what a 2500 year book tells us. And half of the Holy Bible was written for Jews.

Speaking of our memories being terrible, Not_Now.Soon, did you notice how you incorrectly remembered what I had said about biases?

I only said it two weeks ago, too.

Notice, too, that the way in which you incorrectly remembered what I had said was favourable to your argument, in that it suggested a level of denial on my part?

Our brains have a tendency to re-assemble our memories in a way that is favourable to how we want to remember them.

Remember that.

Sorry, Not_Now.Soon, I don’t think I addressed your accusation of excuse-making on my part very well. I glossed over it more than I should have in my haste to get a response out before bed.

By accusing me of making excuses for your experiences, you reveal two things:

Firstly, that you are not seriously considering what I am saying. There is nothing wrong with attempting to rationally justify something. Since when has that ever turned out bad for anyone? The suggestion that I am trying to make excuses assumes that we have reached a point at which there is some level of absurdity or desperation evident in the explanations I am providing. There is not.

Secondly, the implication in your accusation is that I somehow want or need to cling to disbelief, which is absurd. If I am wrong, then I’ll simply change my mind. That’s the beauty of atheism. Atheists have no need to cling to disbelief. Theists, on the other hand, are personally, emotionally, politically, and socially invested in their beliefs, and the costs that would come with abandoning them are immensely higher.

Ultimately, the reasoning behind accusations like yours simply boils down to the ‘Y’all just wanna sin!’ accusation. Which, of course, is complete garbage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyzTxWszzH4

The interesting thing about this thread is that it demonstrates that believers are so unknowing that they will do almost anything to justify their flawed position.

Most have never even read the Bible and yet they claim it is God's word...So much for their strong belief. They aren't even prepared to read their God's word.

Those who have and claim to have studied have studied it totally wrongly. They have let belief get in the way of objective assessment, missing all the errors, flaws, contradictions and the Psychopathic nature of most of it's writers.

They believe so heavily in the devil and the sulphur lakes of hell that it has restricted their growth as adults and kept them infantile in their thinking.

Is it fear or simplistic thinking that makes them so weird?

The fact that the God of Israel didn't answer the prayers of the Sons, daughters and children of Israel in the death camps of the Nazis simply proves that prayers don't work.

GOD DIDN'T ANSWER THEIR PRAYERS AS PROMISED!

Perhaps God couldn't get to those poor Jewish souls because he was answering the selfish prayers of Christian sports people trying to putt a ball in a hole.

The facts prove these believers 100% wrong on all counts.

So even though they sit in fairyland they still don't care that they will lie to, and deliberately indoctrinate children and others just because they lack the intestinal fortitude and morals to examine their false beliefs honestly.

That is why we need to get religions out of schools and society because they believers simply can't be trusted with kids.

You can't call yourself a good person if you lie to and indoctrinate children!

Maybe they should stop deluding themselves that they are good people and take a long hard look at themselves!

Religion really is a mental illness and the religious are simply deluded people!

Robert P. Vande Kappelle - It is a pity you cannot correctly represent fact.

Evolving in adapting to the natural environment for most species accept human beings, who totally ignore natural selection, unlike animals that pick who they think is the best adapted mate to the environment.

Women deities were forever present in archaic human societies. The Venus figurines for example. Why because it was bloody hard to live long in an ice age, food very precious, and they had to hunt large and dangerous prey. They did very well too. But they worshiped fertility hence the rather overweight pregnant ladies.

If we were left to just hunter, gatherer and fisher life style, would we adapt. Especially if we didn't have guns, just stones and spears. I can't catch fish well occasionally but I generally put them back. If we can teach higher apes how to use a screen to communicate, well they generally centre around food and nice things. Because wild animals it is an ongoing chore, and once we domesticate, we replace the puppies or kittens parents. Accept this goes on to adult hood.

A cave man like the Neanderthals, had a bigger brain capacity than modern humans. He was built to sustain lower temperatures, and no doubt like the Inuits depended on meat and other offal for energy.

If you go camping you know how much more work you have to do.

Anyway, I don't know why you question cave man vs modern humans. Of course they were successful adapting to a potentially hostile environment. Give Neanderthal males a good shave and haircut and put them in a posh suit and tie, and you may not spot the difference. Probably think he is a boxer with heavy forehead. He may not have a sophisticated talking voice, after all his language skills only developed as their life style became more developed. And they buried their dead, with mementos, flowers, and little trinkets etc. Doesn't prove they believed in an afterlife, but it does suggest they honored their dead. Rather touching when you think about it.