3 ms·

Uhh...I don't have sources but I'd imagine humans prayed to _something_ before they went mammoth hunting or picking berries long before farming.

marcosdumay 3y ago
Organized religion, writing, and agriculture were a self-supporting set. The people today that didn't develop that set don't pray.
- robocat 3y ago
  Agriculture == 4chan/internet Religon == memes Writing == telling memes to others
tialaramex 3y ago
The Church requires that you've decided this needs to be organized, all you need to start praying before you go hunt for food is superstition. The Princes Alice experiments show why superstition might be valuable (and so get preserved in a culture) if you don't have much technology to provide oversight. Children were told to perform a task and that an (invisible) Princess, Alice is watching to check they don't cheat while the adults are away. Superstitious children didn't cheat because they believed in Alice watching them. The non-superstitious children cheated, after first verifying that in fact Alice does not seem to exist (e.g. passing their hand through space supposedly occupied by the invisible princess)
samatman 3y ago
"The church" is a metonym for Christianity.
- gpvos 3y ago
  In this case I think it refers to organized religion in general, which is older, roughly dating to the beginning of agriculture and city formation.
  - samatman 3y ago
    That interpretation only works if you desperately want the comment containing the phrase "the church" to be wrong. If you insist on this unusual interpretation, then yes, farming isn't at least five times older than the church. But if you go with the usual interpretation of "the church" as a metonym for Christianity, as was very clearly intended by the implications of the statement, it is correct. Why not go talk to some Muslims about the Islamic church? Or some Hindus about the church of Shiva? I'm sure you'll find the discussion edifying!
    - gpvos 3y ago
      Oops, yeah, you are correct about the relative ages, I wrote a bit too fast there.

marcosdumay 3y ago

Organized religion, writing, and agriculture were a self-supporting set. The people today that didn't develop that set don't pray.

robocat 3y ago
Agriculture == 4chan/internet Religon == memes Writing == telling memes to others

tialaramex 3y ago

The Church requires that you've decided this needs to be organized, all you need to start praying before you go hunt for food is superstition. The Princes Alice experiments show why superstition might be valuable (and so get preserved in a culture) if you don't have much technology to provide oversight. Children were told to perform a task and that an (invisible) Princess, Alice is watching to check they don't cheat while the adults are away. Superstitious children didn't cheat because they believed in Alice watching them. The non-superstitious children cheated, after first verifying that in fact Alice does not seem to exist (e.g. passing their hand through space supposedly occupied by the invisible princess)

samatman 3y ago

"The church" is a metonym for Christianity.

gpvos 3y ago
In this case I think it refers to organized religion in general, which is older, roughly dating to the beginning of agriculture and city formation.
- samatman 3y ago
  That interpretation only works if you desperately want the comment containing the phrase "the church" to be wrong. If you insist on this unusual interpretation, then yes, farming isn't at least five times older than the church. But if you go with the usual interpretation of "the church" as a metonym for Christianity, as was very clearly intended by the implications of the statement, it is correct. Why not go talk to some Muslims about the Islamic church? Or some Hindus about the church of Shiva? I'm sure you'll find the discussion edifying!
  - gpvos 3y ago
    Oops, yeah, you are correct about the relative ages, I wrote a bit too fast there.