One recurring theme is social cohesion: religion brings together a community, who might then form a hunting party, raise a temple or support a political party.
There are many functionalist hypotheses, from the idea that religion is the “ opium of the masses”, used by the powerful to control the poor, to the proposal that faith supports the abstract intellectualism required for science and law.
The broad idea that a shared faith serves the needs of a society is known as the functionalist view of religion. He was arguing that belief in God is necessary for society to function, even if he didn’t approve of the monopoly the church held over that belief. But in fact, he was being perfectly sincere. One notorious answer comes from Voltaire, the 18th Century French polymath, who wrote: “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.”Because Voltaire was a trenchant critic of organised religion, this quip is often quoted cynically. To answer these questions, a good starting point is to ask: why do we have religion in the first place? If religions have changed so dramatically in the past, how might they change in the future? Is there any substance to the claim that belief in gods and deities will die out altogether? And as our civilisation and its technologies become increasingly complex, could entirely new forms of worship emerge? ( Find out what it would mean if AI developed a "soul".) But if history is any guide, no matter how deeply held our beliefs may be today, they are likely in time to be transformed or transferred as they pass to our descendants – or simply to fade away. If you believe your faith has arrived at ultimate truth, you might reject the idea that it will change at all. Since then, Christianity has continued both to grow and to splinter into ever more disparate groups, from silent Quakers to snake-handling Pentecostalists. It took three centuries for the Christian church to consolidate around a canon of scriptures – and then in 1054 it split into the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches. Early Christianity, for example, was a truly broad church: ancient documents include yarns about Jesus’ family life and testaments to the nobility of Judas. Tales of the Egyptian, Greek and Norse pantheons are now considered legends, not holy writ.Įven today’s dominant religions have continually evolved throughout history. And when a religion dies, it becomes a myth, and its claim to sacred truth expires. When we recognise a faith, we treat its teachings and traditions as timeless and sacrosanct. When someone tries to start a new religion, it is often dismissed as a cult. We take it for granted that religions are born, grow and die – but we are also oddly blind to that reality.
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