Religious Evolution

[Sethomas]

To go back to topic, religion has become more abstract simply because science has filled in its place. Religion was developed to explain the unknown. The mechanism for this was mythology, by which you could "rationalize" phenomenon like the rising sun or lightning by relating it to the human experience, i.e. creating deific characters quite similar to ourselves.

Science comes in and performs the normal function of explaining life, so religion reverts to providing purpose: answering "why?" instead of "how?" Naturally, this leaves little room for mythology. Besides, arguments such as the means of justification seem more pertinent to the immortal soul than do the events of Paradise Lost. In the case of Judeo-Christianity, the Hexammeron creation story is comprised almost entirely of mythological stories stolen from other Semitic cultures. Per credo, I can say that these stories became "inspired" when they were consolidated under one pen by Moses, and thus from them we may derive some spiritual relevance. But to me, the idea that we should believe in a six-day creation is simply idiotic.