"TomHendricks474"  wrote in message
news:cadt61$1fhf$1{at}darwin.ediacara.org...
> <<  But I'm curious as to how belief in God would serve
> humanity from an evolutionary point of view.  >>
>
>
> Well for one thing, religion often states a specific code of social
behavior
> for its members. It also helps educate its members, builds unity or social
> glue, is a massive support group, etc.
> Religion is metaphysics, but it is also ethics, and socializing with like
> minded others.

Good point.  It raises the question of whether there could be
a non-metaphysical substitute for religion.  One thinks of
Confucianism, which AFAIK offers those other benefits without
the metaphysics.

But why aren't non-metaphysical "religions" more common?
People seem to want the metaphysics, in addition to the
other stuff.  And religions split over issues of metaphysics
rather than over codes of behavior or disputes over the
right way to handle the social welfare functions.  So it
seems that the metaphysics in not a dispensible part of
the package.
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