Causes of Belief in God
The causes of belief in God or gods are usually to be found in fear and ignorance or a combination of both. It is quite easy to imagine how primitive man feared all the things he could not understand; natural phenomena as exemplified in volcanoes, earthquakes, storms at sea, forest fires, pestilence, plagues and disease. None of these things could he understand or explain with his limited knowledge.
The phenomenon of death was always a puzzle to mankind, especially was this the case when one lost friends with whom one had hunted, fished, talked to, etc., and when, without apparent warning, all this happy association ceased. The once animated body, pulsating with life and energy, suddenly became lifeless, cold and still. It was just as impossible for them to explain this strange affair as it is for a young child to understand that people die. Added to this came dreams in which primitive man found himself again in the company with those who had died and whom he had buried. What was the explanation of this strange happening? Little did early man realise that he had been dreaming; the same with a young child who awakes after a nightmare. He knew or believed that he had been fighting wild animals, or enemies, and with those of his companions he had recently buried. When after such a dream he awoke—what could he possibly conclude ? The idea of another self which did things on some occasions was probably one of the earliest ideas of a soul, and in this case it wasn't schizophrenia. While he was alive, i.e., awake and conscious, he knew he was alive, and yet in some unexplainable way he came into contact with those he knew or thought were dead and buried.
It is well known that indigestion causes nightmares, especially that variety of indigestion that follows feasting that all primitive races indulged in between the periods of famine and semi-starvation. When a large animal was captured for food it had to be eaten while “the going was good," for it would not keep long, and the next meal might be a few days off.
The habit of burying the dead is thought to have taken origin not from hygiene, but for the purpose of preventing the spirit of the dead from haunting the living. Hence they drove thick sticks or stakes into these bodies to hold them down (so that they wouldn't roam at night), and piled heaps of heavy stones on them, again for the same purpose. The latter was the forerunner and origin of the tombstone and the coffin.
When priests arrived on the scene at a later stage, they were not slow to capitalise these fears and dreams of early man, although they in their turn could no more explain them than could the rest.
The first gods (corpse worship) were made as effigies of the dead, especially the dead chiefs and leaders of the tribe, and the best warriors. The gods of the black races were black, with short black curly hair like those who made them. Where the races had long hair and painted skins, so, too, were the gods made. The gods of the Chinese were yellow-skinned and with slit-like eyes of their makers. Truly did man create his gods in his own image.
With the making of the gods the god business grew up with the priests as leaders, skilled in tribal magic. It was only necessary for them to possess a little knowledge above the average, or to pretend to possess it. No doubt the only knowledge some of the first priests had was that they knew that there was by bluff prestige and power to be obtained from the god business. Savages and primitive man were very credulous, seldom doubting, hence credulity became a vice, not a virtue, for religion to take root in. Believing without evidence or against evidence is the negation of thinking and logic. No wonder Marx wrote that “ the criticism of religion is the beginning of all criticism."
Horace Jarvis
(To be continued.)
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