Reply #8: Reposting a reading suggestion from the other thread-- [View All]

[SlutBunwalla]

That GMA segment wasn't quite as fundie-centric as the original poster implied.

It dealt as much with humanity's search for meaning in life as it did with whether or not we're "hard-wired" for religion (be it Christianity or any other belief system).

The idea is also not a new one--French anthopologist Rene Girard has written extensively on the almost universal occurrence of this in human society; the best of his books is Violence and the Sacred, (published about 30 years ago, and still in print) and one I highly recommend to both believers and non-believers. It is one of the most fascinating books I've ever read (and I've RE-read this one several times).

Girard details at length the human need to "create" a god or gods (talks about everything from the Greek pantheon to Christianity and beyond), and the purpose that serves in society. He does this not from a pro-religion or anti-religion standpoint, and is careful to point out how certain aspects of this very human tendency can be extremely destructive.

Here's a link to the book on Amazon (complete with a few excerpts):

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0801822181/qid=1063127590/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-0870924-4847810

And those (both religious and atheists) who would think of myths in any derisive way, would do well to remember not just Campbell and not just Girard, but also the great historian Thucydides, who makes a fascinating argument about the relevance of myth to human history. You can find a few tidbits here:

http://www.janus.umd.edu/May2001/Melson/04.html

This is fascinating stuff--I just wish those among us, no matter your beliefs, could be a tad less reactionary on the subject, and consider some of these ideas. We humans are interesting critters, and there's something deep within how we tick that leads to a search for meaning.