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margin: 0 0 0.5em 0.5em; text-align:left; border: 1px solid #484329; width:175px;"> <tbody><tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center; color:White; background-color:#484329"><b>Preach to the choir</b><br /><a class="mw-selflink selflink"><font size="4" color="White"><b>Religion</b></font></a> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="background-color:#c9c69d;" align="center"><a href="/wiki/Category:Religion" title="Category:Religion"><img alt="Icon religion.svg" src="/w/images/thumb/b/b7/Icon_religion.svg/100px-Icon_religion.svg.png" decoding="async" width="100" height="100" srcset="/w/images/thumb/b/b7/Icon_religion.svg/150px-Icon_religion.svg.png 1.5x, /w/images/thumb/b/b7/Icon_religion.svg/200px-Icon_religion.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="200" data-file-height="200" /></a> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#484329; text-align:center;"><b>Crux of the matter</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#c9c69d;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Christianity" title="Christianity">Christianity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Judaism" title="Judaism">Judaism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Islam" title="Islam">Islam</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hinduism" title="Hinduism">Hinduism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Buddhism" title="Buddhism">Buddhism</a></li></ul> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#484329; text-align:center;"><b>Speak of the devil</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#c9c69d;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Satanism" title="Satanism">Satanism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Atheism" title="Atheism">Atheism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Antitheism" title="Antitheism">Antitheism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Agnosticism" title="Agnosticism">Agnosticism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Deism" title="Deism">Deism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Secularism" class="mw-redirect" title="Secularism">Secularism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Humanism" title="Humanism">Humanism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Paganism" title="Paganism">Paganism</a></li></ul> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#484329; text-align:center;"><b>An act of faith</b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#c9c69d;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Secular" title="Secular">Secular</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Denomination" title="Denomination">Denomination</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sect" title="Sect">Sect</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cafeteria_Christianity" title="Cafeteria Christianity">Cafeteria Christianity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pilgrimage" title="Pilgrimage">Pilgrimage</a></li></ul> <div class="vte plainlinks" style="font-size:smaller; text-align:center;"><a href="/wiki/Template:Religion" title="Template:Religion">v</a> - <a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Religion" title="Template talk:Religion">t</a> - <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Religion&action=edit">e</a></div> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table style="margin: auto; border-collapse:collapse; border-style:none; background-color:transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td><div style="padding:4px 50px;position:relative;"><span style="position:absolute;left:10px;top:-6px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">“</span><span style="position:absolute;right:10px;bottom:-20px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">”</span> Were it not for religion’s influence, we would never approve of qualities such as: celibacy, fasting, penance, mortification, self-denial, humility, silence, solitude, and the whole train of monkish virtues. The delusive glosses of superstition and religion, can cause us to approve of such qualities despite the fact that they are neither useful nor agreeable.<br /> His divinity is nowise beholden to him; because these acts of justice are what he was bound to perform, and what many would have performed, were there no god in the universe. But if he fast a day, or give himself a sound whipping; this has a direct reference, in his opinion, to the service of God. No other motive could engage him to such austerities.</div> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="padding:4px 10px 8px;font-size:smaller;line-height:1.6em;text-align:right;"><cite style="font-style:normal;position:relative;z-index:2">—<a href="/wiki/David_Hume" title="David Hume">David Hume</a>, <i>An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals</i> (§9.1.3) </cite> </td></tr></tbody></table> <table style="margin: auto; border-collapse:collapse; border-style:none; background-color:transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td><div style="padding:4px 50px;position:relative;"><span style="position:absolute;left:10px;top:-6px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">“</span><span style="position:absolute;right:10px;bottom:-20px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">”</span>When a Religion is good, I conceive that it will support itself; and when it cannot support itself, and God does not take care to support, so that its Professors are oblig’d to call for the help of the Civil Power, ’tis a Sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one.</div> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="padding:4px 10px 8px;font-size:smaller;line-height:1.6em;text-align:right;"><cite style="font-style:normal;position:relative;z-index:2">—<a href="/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin" title="Benjamin Franklin">Benjamin Franklin</a><sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2">[2]</a></sup></cite> </td></tr></tbody></table> <p>A <b>religion</b> is a systematic set of <a href="/wiki/Belief" title="Belief">beliefs</a>, rituals, and codifications of behaviour that make up a particular group's <a href="/wiki/Worldview" title="Worldview">worldview</a> (views about the world at large and <a href="/wiki/Humanity" class="mw-redirect" title="Humanity">humanity</a>'s place in the world). Typically, these beliefs and practices center around some aspect of the <a href="/wiki/Supernatural" title="Supernatural">supernatural</a> (also often referred to as the "divine"), most often expressed as some form of <a href="/wiki/Deity" class="mw-redirect" title="Deity">deity</a>, i.e., one or more <a href="/wiki/God" title="God">gods</a> and <a href="/wiki/Goddess" class="mw-redirect" title="Goddess">goddesses</a>. </p><p>To the extent that the system of beliefs and rules is codified, it is called <a href="/wiki/Dogma" title="Dogma">dogma</a>; different religions vary in how much dogma they include and how strictly they define it and enforce it. Religious <a href="/wiki/Mythology" title="Mythology">mythology</a> consists of the stories that develop, largely from oral <a href="/wiki/Tradition" title="Tradition">tradition</a>, to explain and describe the worldview of given religions. Religious beliefs tend to arise from humanity's attempts to explain their world, and where possible, to control it. </p><p>As a result, the distinction between a "supernatural religious belief" and <a href="/wiki/Superstition" title="Superstition">superstition</a> tends to be only in the bias of the one applying the label. In other words: "My religion's rituals and beliefs are real, yours are just silly superstition." </p> <div id="toc" class="toc" role="navigation" aria-labelledby="mw-toc-heading"><input type="checkbox" role="button" id="toctogglecheckbox" class="toctogglecheckbox" style="display:none" /><div class="toctitle" lang="en" dir="ltr"><h2 id="mw-toc-heading">Contents</h2><span class="toctogglespan"><label class="toctogglelabel" for="toctogglecheckbox"></label></span></div> <ul> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="#Definition_and_identification"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Definition and identification</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="#History_of_religion_.28including_events_and_dates.29"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">History of religion (including events and dates)</span></a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3"><a href="#In_the_beginning..."><span class="tocnumber">2.1</span> <span class="toctext">In the beginning...</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="#Religion_in_the_West"><span class="tocnumber">2.2</span> <span class="toctext">Religion in the West</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5"><a href="#Religion_in_the_East"><span class="tocnumber">2.3</span> <span class="toctext">Religion in the East</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6"><a href="#Globalization_and_religion"><span class="tocnumber">2.4</span> <span class="toctext">Globalization and religion</span></a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7"><a href="#Religion_and_science"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">Religion and science</span></a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8"><a href="#Examples_of_science-friendly_attitudes_within_religion"><span class="tocnumber">3.1</span> <span class="toctext">Examples of science-friendly attitudes within religion</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9"><a href="#Examples_of_anti-science_attitudes_within_religion"><span class="tocnumber">3.2</span> <span class="toctext">Examples of anti-science attitudes within religion</span></a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-10"><a href="#Fundamentalism_and_science"><span class="tocnumber">3.2.1</span> <span class="toctext">Fundamentalism and science</span></a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-11"><a href="#Examples_of_religion-friendly_findings_within_science"><span class="tocnumber">3.3</span> <span class="toctext">Examples of religion-friendly findings within science</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-12"><a href="#Examples_of_anti-religion_findings_within_science"><span class="tocnumber">3.4</span> <span class="toctext">Examples of anti-religion findings within science</span></a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-13"><a href="#Religions_as_conspiracies"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">Religions as conspiracies</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-14"><a href="#See_also"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">See also</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-15"><a href="#External_links"><span class="tocnumber">6</span> <span class="toctext">External links</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-16"><a href="#Notes"><span class="tocnumber">7</span> <span class="toctext">Notes</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-17"><a href="#References"><span class="tocnumber">8</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></a></li> </ul> </div> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Definition_and_identification">Definition and identification</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Religion&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Definition and identification">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div class="thumb tright"><div class="thumbinner" style="width:302px;"><a href="/wiki/File:Religion_Denominations_2008_Infographic.png" class="image"><img alt="" src="/w/images/thumb/b/b1/Religion_Denominations_2008_Infographic.png/300px-Religion_Denominations_2008_Infographic.png" decoding="async" width="300" height="551" class="thumbimage" srcset="/w/images/thumb/b/b1/Religion_Denominations_2008_Infographic.png/450px-Religion_Denominations_2008_Infographic.png 1.5x, /w/images/thumb/b/b1/Religion_Denominations_2008_Infographic.png/600px-Religion_Denominations_2008_Infographic.png 2x" data-file-width="1500" data-file-height="2753" /></a> <div class="thumbcaption"><div class="magnify"><a href="/wiki/File:Religion_Denominations_2008_Infographic.png" class="internal" title="Enlarge"></a></div>An infographic exploring the sizes of various religions and religious denominations.</div></div></div> <table style="margin: auto; border-collapse:collapse; border-style:none; background-color:transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td><div style="padding:4px 50px;position:relative;"><span style="position:absolute;left:10px;top:-6px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">“</span><span style="position:absolute;right:10px;bottom:-20px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">”</span>It is said that men may not be the dreams of the gods, but rather that the gods are the dreams of men.</div> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="padding:4px 10px 8px;font-size:smaller;line-height:1.6em;text-align:right;"><cite style="font-style:normal;position:relative;z-index:2">—<a href="/wiki/Carl_Sagan" title="Carl Sagan">Carl Sagan</a>, <i>The Edge of Forever</i></cite> </td></tr></tbody></table> <p>Like "beauty" and "<a href="/wiki/Porn" class="mw-redirect" title="Porn">porn</a>", it is very easy to recognize a given mainstream <a href="/wiki/Western" title="Western">Western</a> religion as a religion; the term "religion" <s>was created</s> originated to identify a distinctly Western phenomenon. As you move away from Western <a href="/wiki/Polytheist" class="mw-redirect" title="Polytheist">polytheist</a> and <a href="/wiki/Monotheist" class="mw-redirect" title="Monotheist">monotheist</a> religions into Eastern religions and some indigenous religions, the line becomes a bit blurred. Theravada <a href="/wiki/Buddhism" title="Buddhism">Buddhism</a>, for example is sometimes called a religion, other times a <a href="/wiki/Philosophy" title="Philosophy">philosophy</a>. Some religions have subgroups which are called <i>denominations</i>, such as <a href="/wiki/Shiite" class="mw-redirect" title="Shiite">Shiites</a> and <a href="/wiki/Sunni" title="Sunni">Sunnis</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3">[3]</a></sup> </p><p>The following (incomplete) list includes things which <a href="/wiki/Academic" class="mw-redirect" title="Academic">academics</a> look for in the attempt to define a set of beliefs and practices as a religion. Of course, for every rule, there are exceptions, but in general: </p> <ul><li>Religions are generally shared <a href="/wiki/Social" class="mw-redirect" title="Social">social</a> systems. A solitary follower of a set of beliefs he or she made up is generally not considered part of a religion.</li> <li>Religions have mythologies, often containing <a href="/wiki/Supernatural" title="Supernatural">supernatural</a> themes.</li> <li>Religions address a person's path in <a href="/wiki/Life" title="Life">life</a><sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4">[4]</a></sup> through rites of passage, with examples including rites of <a href="/wiki/Marriage" title="Marriage">marriage</a>, coming of age, and <a href="/wiki/Death" title="Death">death</a> (funerary rites). Most religions have some form of rite for those who wish or are pressured to follow the religion more intimately (including <a href="/wiki/Priest" class="mw-redirect" title="Priest">priests</a>, <a href="/wiki/Healing" title="Healing">healers</a>, <a href="/wiki/Monk" class="mw-redirect" title="Monk">monks</a>, <a href="/wiki/Nun" title="Nun">nuns</a>, <a href="/wiki/Shaman" class="mw-redirect" title="Shaman">shamans</a>, etc.)</li> <li>Religions explore and attempt to answer life's unanswered questions (What happens before life and after death? What is the <a href="/wiki/Meaning_of_life" class="mw-redirect" title="Meaning of life">meaning of life</a>? Where do lost socks go?<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5">[note 1]</a></sup> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm6YnAqPv4w">Where do all the toasters go?</a>)</li> <li>Religions generally address, or even attempt to explain, the allegedly burning questions about the <a href="/wiki/Creation_myths" title="Creation myths">beginning</a> and <a href="/wiki/Eschatology" title="Eschatology">ending</a> of the world, even if their answer is "no one knows" or "look to <a href="/wiki/Science" title="Science">science</a> for answers".</li> <li>Religions, being social, provide guidelines for <a href="/wiki/Morality" title="Morality">morality</a> or <a href="/wiki/Ethics" class="mw-redirect" title="Ethics">ethics</a> and how to best live in the world. These views are usually supported by the mythology and <a href="/wiki/Holy_text" class="mw-redirect" title="Holy text">holy texts</a> and may be recorded as part of the dogma.</li> <li>Beyond the rites of passage, religions generally have other ritual acts of worship, especially social ones.</li> <li>Religions often lay out a set of <a href="/wiki/Taboo" title="Taboo">taboos</a> — "things which must not be done... ever. They are truly unthinkable." These are typically so ingrained with the <a href="/wiki/Culture" title="Culture">culture</a> at large that even in societies where two very different religions exist, the taboos are often the same. <a href="/wiki/Homosexuality" title="Homosexuality">Homosexuality</a> might be wrong, or a <a href="/wiki/Sin" title="Sin">sin</a>, but <a href="/wiki/Cannibalism" title="Cannibalism">cannibalism</a> is taboo.</li> <li>Religions have often defined the calendar, intertwining with the needs of the agrarian, social, or <a href="/wiki/Business" class="mw-redirect" title="Business">business</a> nature of any individual civilization. At harvest time, for example, many cultures had rites around death and harvest festivals (including praise or even <a href="/wiki/Sacrifice" title="Sacrifice">sacrifices</a> to the gods for their bounty). Major weather events like floods, <a href="/wiki/Hurricane" class="mw-redirect" title="Hurricane">hurricanes</a>, or drought call forth religious ceremonial appeasements (by sacrifice or festival) to gods.</li></ul> <p>To what extent, if at all, each religion has the above features varies widely. </p> <h2><span id="History_of_religion_(including_events_and_dates)"></span><span class="mw-headline" id="History_of_religion_.28including_events_and_dates.29">History of religion (including events and dates)</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Religion&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: History of religion (including events and dates)">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <table style="margin: auto; border-collapse:collapse; border-style:none; background-color:transparent;" class="cquote"> <tbody><tr> <td><div style="padding:4px 50px;position:relative;"><span style="position:absolute;left:10px;top:-6px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">“</span><span style="position:absolute;right:10px;bottom:-20px;z-index:1;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-weight:bold;color:#B2B7F2;font-size:36px">”</span>Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind those which are caused by a difference of sentiment in Religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing and ought most to be deprecated.</div> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="padding:4px 10px 8px;font-size:smaller;line-height:1.6em;text-align:right;"><cite style="font-style:normal;position:relative;z-index:2">—<a href="/wiki/George_Washington" title="George Washington">George Washington</a>, 1792.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6">[5]</a></sup></cite> </td></tr></tbody></table> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="In_the_beginning...">In the beginning...</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Religion&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: In the beginning...">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>It is impossible to know when the human experience/sense of religion began. <a href="/wiki/Archeology" class="mw-redirect" title="Archeology">Archeological</a> evidence suggests that the first primitive expressions of religious ideas date to the paleolithic era, 100,000 years ago. The most compelling evidence are burial sites which suggest a belief in some kind of "<a href="/wiki/Afterlife" title="Afterlife">afterlife</a>", as evidenced from items found with the deceased, paintings on the body, and placement of the body itself. As with most ancient archeological finds, not all experts agree about the significance. </p><p>Some important findings include: </p> <ul><li>230,000 <a href="/wiki/BCE" class="mw-redirect" title="BCE">BCE</a> – Pontnewydd Neanderthal cave burial in Wales.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7">[6]</a></sup></li> <li>98,000 BCE – <a href="/wiki/Homo_neanderthalensis" title="Homo neanderthalensis">Neanderthal</a> burial sites</li> <li>25,000 BCE – Burials showing indications of more ceremony in the ornamentation, painting with red ocher</li></ul> <p>The earliest <a href="/wiki/Evidence" title="Evidence">evidence</a> of organized religions dates to the Neolithic era.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8">[7]</a></sup> There is great debate whether religion allows the expansion of social groups from bands to tribes to chiefdom,<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9">[8]</a></sup> or if the opposite is true — a set level of social structure is necessary to allow a religion to grow. It is undeniable that virtually every society larger than a tribe had a complex religious structure that either empowered the leadership or was itself the governance of the chiefdom.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10">[9]</a></sup> Control of a society appears to have been largely dependent upon control of the religion and of the associated worldview. </p><p>Important Neolithic religious sites and dates include: </p> <ul><li>9100–7000 BCE – <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6bekli_Tepe" class="extiw" title="wp:Göbekli Tepe" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: Göbekli Tepe">Göbekli Tepe</span></a>,<sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> generally accepted as a site of worship — the oldest such site found to date</li> <li>3100 BCE – <a href="/wiki/Stonehenge" title="Stonehenge">Stonehenge</a>: initial construction begun</li></ul> <p>The next major step in the development of religions was writing. With writing came more complex ideas about the world, as well as codification of ethical systems and standardization of <a href="/wiki/Mythology" title="Mythology">mythologies</a>. And with writing came the first <a href="/wiki/Holy_text" class="mw-redirect" title="Holy text">holy texts</a>. </p><p>Religions with written texts: </p> <ul><li>3000–2000 BCE – <a href="/wiki/Sumer" title="Sumer">Sumerians</a> and Akkadians in Ancient Mesopotamia</li> <li>3100–332 BCE – Ancient Egypt</li> <li>2400 BCE – The oldest known religious texts, the Pyramid Texts, were written</li> <li>2000 BCE – the <a href="/wiki/Epic_of_Gilgamesh" title="Epic of Gilgamesh">Epic of Gilgamesh</a>, and by extension the story of <a href="/wiki/Noah" title="Noah">Noah</a>, was first written.</li> <li>1700–1100 BCE – the Rigveda of Hinduism</li> <li>1200 BCE – possible date of the oldest fragments of the Torah (generally assumed to be the poetry within the Torah). (The first known mention of "Israel" as a nation occurs on the Merneptah Stele, dated to 1203 BCE.)</li> <li>1000 BCE – Avesta, one of the earliest texts of <a href="/wiki/Zoroastrianism" title="Zoroastrianism">Zoroastrianism</a></li></ul> <p>It almost goes without saying that once rules are codified, it becomes easier to control people's behaviors based on those rules; once myths are codified, it can be easier to see your god as the only god, and your "myths" as the only acceptable <a href="/wiki/Truth" title="Truth">Truth</a>. This would be especially true for the monotheistic religions in the ancient Near East, where in the name of their God, wars were fought over whose Truth would reign supreme. </p><p><a href="/wiki/Chimps" class="mw-redirect" title="Chimps">Chimps</a> have been observed engaging in strange rituals, treating specific trees as a sort of "shrine" by stacking rocks around it (and throwing rocks at it). Scientists believe this may be evidence of ritualistic behavior amongst chimpanzees, and thus have implications for the evolutionary origins of religion.<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11">[10]</a></sup> Chimps have also been observed engaging in strange dancing around fire, perhaps in reverence of it.<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12">[11]</a></sup> However, studying potential animal "spirituality" is unlike the study of human religion, because unlike humans, you can't exactly ask animals what they're doing or thinking. There is a risk of <a href="/wiki/Anthropomorphism" class="mw-redirect" title="Anthropomorphism">anthropomorphizing</a> animals that we should be mindful of here.<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13">[12]</a></sup> </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Religion_in_the_West">Religion in the West</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Religion&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Religion in the West">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>For the last thousand years, religious <s><a href="/wiki/Life" title="Life">life</a></s> practice in <a href="/wiki/The_West" class="mw-redirect" title="The West">the West</a> has predominately involved the <a href="/wiki/Middle_Eastern" class="mw-redirect" title="Middle Eastern">Middle Eastern</a> <a href="/wiki/Abrahamic_religion" title="Abrahamic religion">Abrahamic religions</a> of <a href="/wiki/Judaism" title="Judaism">Judaism</a>, <a href="/wiki/Christianity" title="Christianity">Christianity</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Islam" title="Islam">Islam</a>, the latter two claiming the most followers in recent millennia. These religions have traditionally demanded — at least in theory — that their adherents form a tight and at least somewhat homogeneous bloc, professing or following a non-negotiable set of principles handed down by one or more <a href="/wiki/Prophet" title="Prophet">prophets</a> and/or by some magisterium. When adherents have disagreed on matters of belief or of ceremonial<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-14">[note 2]</a></sup> detail, it has led to splintering of religions into different <a href="/wiki/Denomination" title="Denomination">denominations</a> and <a href="/wiki/Sect" title="Sect">sects</a>. </p><p>When the <a href="/wiki/Enlightenment" class="mw-redirect" title="Enlightenment">Enlightenment</a> came along sometime in the 17th or 18th centuries and the old <a href="/wiki/Theological" class="mw-redirect" title="Theological">theological</a> basis of Christianity came under more rigorous questioning, many within the <a href="/wiki/Church" title="Church">church</a> responded by emphasizing its social role of <a href="/wiki/Altruism" title="Altruism">caring for the needy and aiming to better the world</a>. This eventually gave rise to the tradition of the Social Gospel<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-15">[13]</a></sup> (which remains influential today in the mainline <a href="/wiki/Protestant" title="Protestant">Protestant</a> traditions) and to <a href="/wiki/Liberation_theology" title="Liberation theology">Liberation theology</a> (which operates [sometimes with <a href="/wiki/Vatican" class="mw-redirect" title="Vatican">Vatican</a> disapproval] specially in the <a href="/wiki/Roman_Catholic_Church" title="Roman Catholic Church">Roman Catholic Church</a>). </p><p>In the meantime, <a href="/wiki/Economics" title="Economics">economists</a> noted that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/market" class="extiw" title="wp:market" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: market">markets</span></a><sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> created jobs and profits, and postulated the operation of a supernatural <a href="/wiki/Invisible_hand" class="mw-redirect" title="Invisible hand">Invisible Hand</a>. <a href="/wiki/Capitalist" class="mw-redirect" title="Capitalist">Capitalists</a>, often loosened from traditional religion by <a href="/wiki/Secular_religions" title="Secular religions">secularised</a> <a href="/wiki/Protestant_work_ethic" title="Protestant work ethic">Protestantism</a>, latched onto this new mythology<sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-16">[14]</a></sup>and <a href="/wiki/Superstition" title="Superstition">superstitiously</a> determined that a creator seemed worthy of worship, erecting temples — banks and stock exchanges<sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-17">[15]</a></sup> — and developing the <a href="/wiki/Hagiography" title="Hagiography">hagiography</a> of <a href="/wiki/Captain_of_industry" class="mw-redirect" title="Captain of industry">captains of industry</a> and of monopolists and the iconography of <a href="/wiki/Idol" class="mw-redirect" title="Idol">idols</a> like the Bull<sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-18">[16]</a></sup> (syncretistically adopted from earlier religions like those of Crete<sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-19">[17]</a></sup> or of Mithras<sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-20">[18]</a></sup>) and the Bear,<sup id="cite_ref-21" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-21">[19]</a></sup> white knights,<sup id="cite_ref-22" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-22">[20]</a></sup> and unicorns.<sup id="cite_ref-23" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-23">[21]</a></sup> </p><p>More recently, with the continued decline of the organized form of some of the Abrahamic religions, many fairly non-religious people have (again) adopted a more individualistic approach to life philosophy, assembling a <a href="/wiki/Spiritual_but_not_religious" class="mw-redirect" title="Spiritual but not religious">"personal philosophy"</a> that combines religious, philosophical, and moral concepts that they think or feel <a href="/wiki/Solipsism" title="Solipsism">works well for them</a>. Others cobble together more explicitly religious ideas and practices along the same lines; this can be labelled variously <a href="/wiki/Neopaganism" title="Neopaganism">neopaganism</a>, <a href="/wiki/New_Age" title="New Age">New Age</a>, or <a href="/wiki/Cafeteria_Christianity" title="Cafeteria Christianity">cafeteria Christianity</a> — depending on the source of the ideas. </p><p>Other groups: </p> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Atheists" class="mw-redirect" title="Atheists">atheists</a></li> <li>those that identify with a particular religion but do not believe in the god</li> <li>those who "worship" non-traditional, apparently non-religious ideas or isms (such as <a href="/wiki/Consumerism" title="Consumerism">consumerism</a><sup id="cite_ref-24" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-24">[22]</a></sup>)</li> <li>those who have forgone any overt expression of religion at all</li></ul> <p>form a growing part of Western culture. </p><p>Perhaps as a direct response to the growth in atheism and to the swarms of those who choose to leave formal religion, coupled with a stronger-than-ever reliance on <a href="/wiki/Science" title="Science">science</a>, a minority (in the US, a very loud, powerful minority) of people have chosen to insert their heads where the sun don't shine and to attempt to <a href="/wiki/Denialism" title="Denialism">ignore</a> the decline in religiosity, still pretending that <a href="/wiki/Bullshit" title="Bullshit">"atheism is declining"</a>, and insisting that everyone accept every teaching of their religion (and no-one else's) as absolutely true. Such people have become known as <a href="/wiki/Fundamentalist" class="mw-redirect" title="Fundamentalist">fundamentalists</a> — see for example <a href="/wiki/Wahhabism" title="Wahhabism">Wahhabism</a>. </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Religion_in_the_East">Religion in the East</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Religion&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Religion in the East">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>People in southern Asia have tended to follow various dharmic religions,<sup id="cite_ref-25" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-25">[23]</a></sup> such as <a href="/wiki/Hinduism" title="Hinduism">Hinduism</a>, <a href="/wiki/Jainism" title="Jainism">Jainism</a>, and <a href="/wiki/Sikhism" title="Sikhism">Sikhism</a>. Dominant religions in eastern Asia include <a href="/wiki/Buddhism" title="Buddhism">Buddhism</a> (insofar as it counts as a religion), <a href="/wiki/Shinto" title="Shinto">Shinto</a> (insofar as it counts as a religion), and <a href="/wiki/Taoism" title="Taoism">Taoism</a>. Western Asia gave birth to the dominant Abrahamic faiths. Twentieth-century Oceania invented <a href="/wiki/Cargo_cult" title="Cargo cult">cargo cults</a>. </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Globalization_and_religion">Globalization and religion</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Religion&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Globalization and religion">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>The 20th century saw booms — both in the West and in the East — in so-called <a href="/wiki/New_religious_movement" class="mw-redirect" title="New religious movement">new religious movements</a> (NRLs), some of which have more religious elements than do others. (Modern, capitalistic, and <a href="/wiki/Secular" title="Secular">secularized</a> Japan and Anglo-America have proven particularly productive of new ideas/heresies in this respect.) In parallel, some of the recently-converted fringe <a href="/wiki/Missionary" title="Missionary">missionary</a> areas previously <a href="/wiki/Proselytization" class="mw-redirect" title="Proselytization">proselytised</a> by Islam or by Christianity have either developed syncretic<sup id="cite_ref-26" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-26">[24]</a></sup> new religions or have latched onto and re-exported "pure" and sometimes extreme forms of their parent-religions. (Individuals and peoples more recently converted can have greater ardency for their new true faith.) Thus, for example, Latin America can combine <a href="/wiki/Marxism" class="mw-redirect" title="Marxism">Marxism</a> with social Christianity in potent brews, Africa gave birth to the <a href="/wiki/Lord%27s_Resistance_Army" title="Lord's Resistance Army">Lord's Resistance Army</a> and features a morally stricter <a href="/wiki/Anglicanism" class="mw-redirect" title="Anglicanism">Anglicanism</a> than does England, while <a href="/wiki/Indonesia" title="Indonesia">Indonesia</a>, one of the last major frontiers of the advance of Arab-style <a href="/wiki/Monotheism" title="Monotheism">monotheism</a>, can foster particularly <a href="/wiki/Darul_Islam" title="Darul Islam">fundamentalist Islam</a>. </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Religion_and_science">Religion and science</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Religion&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Religion and science">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <p>Historically, many religions, such as <a href="/wiki/Islam" title="Islam">Islam</a> and <a href="/wiki/Christianity" title="Christianity">Christianity</a>, have asserted control over people, wealth, and cultural <a href="/wiki/Meme" title="Meme">memes</a>. As a result, when <a href="/wiki/Science" title="Science">science</a> has improved its explanations of <a href="/wiki/Reality" title="Reality">reality</a>, the two bodies often experienced friction. </p><p>Any religion that requires its followers to accept the Truth of a holy book, religious leader, or set of mythology above "what science says" <i>will</i> necessarily conflict with science. A religion that pushes "faith" over exploration, consideration, thought, and (of course) study, will likely conflict with science, because those methods of reason often lead to an overall skeptical position. </p><p>The <a href="/wiki/Scientific_method" title="Scientific method">scientific method</a> states that studies should use <a href="/wiki/Methodological_naturalism" title="Methodological naturalism">methodological naturalism</a> and assume that observations have <a href="/wiki/Empiricism" title="Empiricism">empirical</a> and natural causes. Consequently, science cannot verify a <a href="/wiki/Supernatural" title="Supernatural">supernatural</a> belief or claim that all supernatural events are impossible. </p><p>The histories of both Christianity and Islam include moments where they have been the developers of new thought, science, and <a href="/wiki/Knowledge" title="Knowledge">knowledge</a>, and conversely, there are many times when they have attempted to severely suppress science, philosophy, and <a href="/wiki/Freethought" title="Freethought">freethinking</a>. </p><p>Throughout the rest of the world, religions have generally encouraged <a href="/wiki/Naturalist" class="mw-redirect" title="Naturalist">naturalistic</a> explorations and explanations, found successful ways to integrate the two, or accepted them as different answers for the same question(s). It is difficult for most who grow up in a Western Abrahamic tradition to imagine a religion which does not, at some level, rely on <a href="/wiki/Supernatural" title="Supernatural">supernatural</a> or <a href="/wiki/Miracle" title="Miracle">miraculous</a> explanations. </p><p>Many modern theists adopt <a href="/wiki/Non-Overlapping_Magisteria" title="Non-Overlapping Magisteria">Non-Overlapping Magisteria</a> (NOMA), which suggests that religion and science contribute to different areas and should not inform or criticize each other. </p><p>Below are some examples of clashing and cooperating views of religion and science. </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Examples_of_science-friendly_attitudes_within_religion">Examples of science-friendly attitudes within religion</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Religion&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Examples of science-friendly attitudes within religion">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <ul><li>In the Middle Ages, the Muslim world had a renaissance due to their open-mindedness towards science. Indeed, they preserved and expanded upon the knowledge acquired by the ancient Greeks. They, for instance, discovered algebra, which means 'restoration' in Arabic, even though they solved problems verbally rather than symbolically.</li> <li>Roger Bacon, a Catholic friar, was one of the people who formalized the <a href="/wiki/Scientific_method" title="Scientific method">scientific method</a> itself.</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gregor_Mendel" title="Gregor Mendel">Gregor Mendel</a>, a Catholic Augustinian friar, founded the scientific study of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/genetics" class="extiw" title="wp:genetics" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: genetics">genetics</span></a><sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> by experimenting with pea plants.</li> <li>Georges Lemaître, a Catholic priest, developed the Cosmic Egg (or the Primeval Atom) hypothesis, which was a forerunner to the modern-day Big Bang theory from Einstein's general theory of relativity.</li> <li>Several eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Anglican priests, such as William Buckland, Joseph Townsend, William Conybeare, and Adam Sedgwick, made important contributions to modern geology. This came at a time when <a href="/wiki/Deep_time" title="Deep time">deep time</a> was still a controversial idea.</li> <li>In the modern era, many Christian <a href="/wiki/Denomination" title="Denomination">denominations</a> accept modern science and its ramifications. In any single situation where science and religion seem to overlap, the idea of <a href="/wiki/Non-Overlapping_Magisteria" title="Non-Overlapping Magisteria">Non-Overlapping Magisteria</a> (<a href="/wiki/NOMA" class="mw-redirect" title="NOMA">NOMA</a>) attempts to shield believers with plausible anchors for growing <a href="/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance" title="Cognitive dissonance">cognitive dissonance</a>.</li> <li>The Roman Catholic Church's acceptance of <a href="/wiki/Theistic_evolution" title="Theistic evolution">theistic evolution</a>, admittedly with <a href="/wiki/Adam" class="mw-redirect" title="Adam">Adam</a> and <a href="/wiki/Eve" class="mw-redirect" title="Eve">Eve</a> involved somewhere in <a href="/wiki/Original_sin" title="Original sin">the fall</a>. Most mainstream Protestant religions do not have any problem with evolution. <i>(See <a href="/wiki/Acceptance_of_evolution_by_religious_groups" title="Acceptance of evolution by religious groups">Acceptance of evolution by religious groups</a>.)</i></li> <li>The <a href="/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27%C3%AD" title="Bahá'í">Bahá'í</a> Faith has a tenet expressly concerning the "unity between science and religion". The tenet doesn't go so far as to claim they are the same thing, but insists one is worthless without the other.</li></ul> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Examples_of_anti-science_attitudes_within_religion">Examples of <a href="/wiki/Anti-science" class="mw-redirect" title="Anti-science">anti-science</a> attitudes within religion</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Religion&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Examples of anti-science attitudes within religion">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <ul><li>The execution in 1600 by burning at the stake of <a href="/wiki/Giordano_Bruno" title="Giordano Bruno">Giordano Bruno</a>, found guilty by the Roman <a href="/wiki/Inquisition" title="Inquisition">Inquisition</a> of (among other heresies) suggesting that extra-terrestrial worlds might exist.</li> <li>The Roman Catholic Church's 1633 persecution and arrest of <a href="/wiki/Galileo" class="mw-redirect" title="Galileo">Galileo</a>, who harmed nothing but a geocentric worldview (and insulted the Pope in doing so, arguably worsening his position).</li> <li>Opposition to <a href="/wiki/Darwin" class="mw-redirect" title="Darwin">Darwin</a>'s <a href="/wiki/Theory_of_evolution" title="Theory of evolution">theory of evolution</a>, by Protestant fundamentalists among his contemporaries and in modern times.</li></ul> <h4><span class="mw-headline" id="Fundamentalism_and_science">Fundamentalism and science</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Religion&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Fundamentalism and science">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h4> <p>In the 1920s, the <a href="/wiki/Christian_fundamentalism" class="mw-redirect" title="Christian fundamentalism">fundamentalist movement</a> within Christianity became more popular. One of its core tenets presented the Bible as literal truth. This is really the first time any Christian or Jewish denomination stated such a premise – prior to that, most religions and the religious understood that not all things in their holy books were meant to be literal; there were myths, exaggerations for effect, aggrandized history, and poetic symbolism.<sup id="cite_ref-27" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-27">[25]</a></sup> </p><p>The basic idea behind the rise of literalism and formal fundamentalism is a growing fear that, as science disproves small details of the Bible such as <a href="/wiki/Biblical_scientific_errors#Pi" title="Biblical scientific errors">the confusion of the value of pi</a>, science will erode the "Truth" value of the Bible, and soon people will jump, not from doubting mathematical falsities, but to far more important matters of <a href="/wiki/Faith" title="Faith">faith</a>, such as the Divinity of <a href="/wiki/Jesus" title="Jesus">Jesus</a>, and — most importantly — the moral authority of the people preaching said "Truth". This fear that science can and will directly challenge the value of the Bible has led to an effective <a href="/wiki/War_on_Science" title="War on Science">War on Science</a>, especially culminating in a battle against <a href="/wiki/Evolution" title="Evolution">evolution</a> and, as a backlash, increasing rates of atheism.<sup>[<a href="/wiki/Help:References" title="Help:References"><i>citation needed</i></a>]</sup> </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Examples_of_religion-friendly_findings_within_science">Examples of religion-friendly findings within science</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Religion&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Examples of religion-friendly findings within science">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <ul><li>Religion and spirituality have been correlated with lower rates of heart disease and chronic pain.<sup id="cite_ref-28" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-28">[26]</a></sup></li> <li>Global studies have found that <a href="/wiki/Nation" title="Nation">countries</a> with more religious people often also have more faith in science, while many other countries are neither religious nor welcoming to science and technology.<sup id="cite_ref-29" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-29">[27]</a></sup></li> <li>Highly religious people are more likely to donate money or volunteer time to organizations, despite the fact that they earn less on average.<sup id="cite_ref-30" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-30">[28]</a></sup></li> <li>Religiously devoted people are less likely to use <a href="/wiki/Drugs" class="mw-redirect" title="Drugs">substances</a> or suffer from substance <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/addiction" class="extiw" title="wp:addiction" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: addiction">addiction</span></a>.<sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup><sup id="cite_ref-31" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-31">[29]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-32" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-32">[30]</a></sup></li></ul> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Examples_of_anti-religion_findings_within_science">Examples of anti-religion findings within science</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Religion&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Examples of anti-religion findings within science">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <ul><li>Patients who undergo surgery and know they would receive prayer are more likely to experience complications, compared to patients who undergo the same surgery and are informed that they may or may not receive prayer.<sup id="cite_ref-33" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-33">[31]</a></sup></li></ul> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Religions_as_conspiracies">Religions as conspiracies</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Religion&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: Religions as conspiracies">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <p>Everyone loves a good <a href="/wiki/Conspiracy_theory" title="Conspiracy theory">conspiracy theory</a>,<sup>[<i>citation NOT needed</i>]</sup> and religions provide a happy hunting-ground for conspiracists. Thus <a href="/wiki/Papist" class="mw-redirect" title="Papist">Papists</a> have deliberately corrupted and distorted <a href="/wiki/Restorationism" title="Restorationism">the True Faith</a>. Or the existence of <a href="/wiki/Heresy" title="Heresy">heresies</a> prove <a href="/wiki/Satandidit" class="mw-redirect" title="Satandidit">the secretive machinations of satanic forces</a>. Or one can blame <a href="/wiki/International_Jewish_conspiracy" title="International Jewish conspiracy">International Jewry</a> (conveniently conflated with <a href="/wiki/Judaism" title="Judaism">Judaism</a>) or <a href="/wiki/Islamism" title="Islamism">Islamic terrorism</a> (conveniently conflated with <a href="/wiki/Islam" title="Islam">Islam</a>) for all things nefarious. Or <a href="/wiki/Pagan_survival" class="mw-redirect" title="Pagan survival">pagan revivals</a> are aiming to demolish the Abrahamic religions in order to pave the way for the return of pre-Abrahamic faiths. Or religion in general just provides a cheap, easy, <a href="/wiki/Tithe" title="Tithe">user-funded</a> way for THEM to control <a href="/wiki/Original_sin" title="Original sin">self-policing</a> beliefs, attitudes, morals, and behaviors amongst the trusting believing <a href="/wiki/Sheeple" title="Sheeple">sheeple</a>-flock.<sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-34">[32]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-35">[note 3]</a></sup> </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="See_also">See also</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Religion&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: See also">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Abrahamic_religion" title="Abrahamic religion">Abrahamic religion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/First_Great_Awakening" title="First Great Awakening">First Great Awakening</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/State_Religion" class="mw-redirect" title="State Religion">State Religion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fundamentalism" title="Fundamentalism">Fundamentalism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Freedom_From_Religion_Foundation" title="Freedom From Religion Foundation">Freedom From Religion Foundation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fun:Starting_a_new_religion" title="Fun:Starting a new religion">Fun:Starting a new religion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Neopaganism" title="Neopaganism">Neopaganism</a></li></ul> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="External_links">External links</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Religion&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: External links">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAIpRRZvnJg&fmt=18">instruction manual for life</a>, <a href="/wiki/TheraminTrees" title="TheraminTrees">TheraminTrees</a> and QualiaSoup</li> <li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://web.pdx.edu/~tothm/religion/Definitions.htm">Various Definitions of Religion</a></li></ul> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Notes">Notes</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Religion&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: Notes">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div class="references-small" style="font-size:90%;"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-5">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Note that religion previously provided answers to questions that today, science explains. "What is thunder?" "Why is there a drought?" See <a href="/wiki/God_of_the_gaps" title="God of the gaps">god of the gaps</a> for more on this.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-14"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-14">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">As in the case of the <a href="/wiki/Old_Believers" title="Old Believers">Old Believers</a> vs. the Russian <a href="/wiki/Orthodox_Church" class="mw-redirect" title="Orthodox Church">Orthodox Church</a> in the 17th century.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-35"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-35">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Naturally, that last one is really popular among <a href="/wiki/Antitheism" title="Antitheism">antitheists</a>.</span> </li> </ol></div></div> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="References">References</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Religion&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: References">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count:2; -webkit-column-count:2; column-count:2; font-size:80%;"> <div class="mw-references-wrap mw-references-columns"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-1">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://poorlydrawnlines.com/comic/alone-out-here/">http://poorlydrawnlines.com/comic/alone-out-here/</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-2">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-33-02-0330">From Benjamin Franklin to Richard Price, 9 October 1780</a> <i>National Archives</i>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-3">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Focus on Islamic Issues - Page 15, Cofie D. Malbouisson - 2007</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-4">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/journey" class="extiw" title="wp:journey" rel="nofollow">journey</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-6">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-11-02-0132">From George Washington to Edward Newenham, 20 October 1792</a>. National Archives.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-7">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/1963/">The Cave Men of Ice Age Wales</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-8">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"> Compare: <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r2708880">/* Errors processing stylesheet [[:Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css]] (rev 2708880): • Invalid or unsupported value for property ⧼code⧽background⧼/code⧽ at line 44 character 14. • Invalid or unsupported value for property ⧼code⧽background⧼/code⧽ at line 50 character 14. • Invalid or unsupported value for property ⧼code⧽background⧼/code⧽ at line 55 character 14. • Invalid or unsupported value for property ⧼code⧽background⧼/code⧽ at line 64 character 14. • Invalid or unsupported value for property ⧼code⧽color⧼/code⧽ at line 96 character 9. • Invalid or unsupported value for property ⧼code⧽color⧼/code⧽ at line 100 character 9. • Invalid media query at line 138 character 8. */ .mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFMcMahon2011" class="citation book cs1">McMahon, Robin (2011). "10: Diversity and the evolutionary tree of religion". <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=6Cnxm4BgGqAC"><i>On the Origin of Diversity</i></a>. Croydon, Surrey: Filament Publishing Ltd. p. 73. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781905493876" title="Special:BookSources/9781905493876"><bdi>9781905493876</bdi></a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2017-06-05</span></span>. <q>Organised religion traces its roots to the Neolithic revolution, which began 11,000 years ago.</q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=10%3A+Diversity+and+the+evolutionary+tree+of+religion&rft.btitle=On+the+Origin+of+Diversity&rft.place=Croydon%2C+Surrey&rft.pages=73&rft.pub=Filament+Publishing+Ltd&rft.date=2011&rft.isbn=9781905493876&rft.aulast=McMahon&rft.aufirst=Robin&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3D6Cnxm4BgGqAC&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Frationalwiki.org%3AReligion" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-9">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"> Compare: <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r2708880"/><cite id="CITEREFMcMahon2011" class="citation book cs1">McMahon, Robin (2011). "10: Diversity and the evolutionary tree of religion". <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=6Cnxm4BgGqAC"><i>On the Origin of Diversity</i></a>. Croydon, Surrey: Filament Publishing Ltd. p. 73. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781905493876" title="Special:BookSources/9781905493876"><bdi>9781905493876</bdi></a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2017-06-05</span></span>. <q>[...] While bands and small tribes often possess supernatural beliefs, these beliefs do not serve to justify a central authority, justify transfer of wealth or maintain peace between related individuals. Organized religion emerges as a means of providing social and economic stability through justifying the central authority [...]. Organised religion served to provide a bond between unrelated individuals who would otherwise be more prone to enmity. [...] Religions that revolved around moralising gods may have facilitated the rise of large cooperative groups of unrelated individuals.</q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=10%3A+Diversity+and+the+evolutionary+tree+of+religion&rft.btitle=On+the+Origin+of+Diversity&rft.place=Croydon%2C+Surrey&rft.pages=73&rft.pub=Filament+Publishing+Ltd&rft.date=2011&rft.isbn=9781905493876&rft.aulast=McMahon&rft.aufirst=Robin&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3D6Cnxm4BgGqAC&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Frationalwiki.org%3AReligion" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-10">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"> Compare: <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r2708880"/><cite id="CITEREFMcMahon2011" class="citation book cs1">McMahon, Robin (2011). "10: Diversity and the evolutionary tree of religion". <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=6Cnxm4BgGqAC"><i>On the Origin of Diversity</i></a>. Croydon, Surrey: Filament Publishing Ltd. p. 73. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781905493876" title="Special:BookSources/9781905493876"><bdi>9781905493876</bdi></a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2017-06-05</span></span>. <q>Anthropologists have found that virtually all state societies and chiefdoms [...] around the world [...] justify political power through divine authority.</q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=10%3A+Diversity+and+the+evolutionary+tree+of+religion&rft.btitle=On+the+Origin+of+Diversity&rft.place=Croydon%2C+Surrey&rft.pages=73&rft.pub=Filament+Publishing+Ltd&rft.date=2011&rft.isbn=9781905493876&rft.aulast=McMahon&rft.aufirst=Robin&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3D6Cnxm4BgGqAC&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Frationalwiki.org%3AReligion" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-11">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/chimps-may-be-performing-rituals-shrine-trees-180958301/">Chimps may be performing rituals at "shrine trees"</a> - <i>Smithsonian Magazine</i></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-12">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2079630-what-do-chimp-temples-tell-us-about-the-evolution-of-religion/">What do chimp temples tell us</a> about the evolution of religion? - <i>New Scientist</i></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-13">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">"<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cognition-animal/">Animal cognition</a>" - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-15"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-15">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Gospel" class="extiw" title="wp:Social Gospel" rel="nofollow">Social Gospel</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-16"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-16">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r2708880"/><cite id="CITEREFNelson2010" class="citation book cs1">Nelson, Robert Henry (2010) [2001]. "1: Tenets of Economic Faith". <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Rw-bHEGNqqcC"><i>Economics as Religion: From Samuelson to Chicago and Beyond</i></a>. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press. p. 23. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780271038612" title="Special:BookSources/9780271038612"><bdi>9780271038612</bdi></a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2019-02-14</span></span>. <q>The Jewish and Christian bibles foretell one outcome of history. If economics foresees another, it is in effect offering a competing religious vision. [...] for many thinkers [...] their belief system results not in a Judeo-Christian heresy, but in an entirely new and seccular religion - although one that draws many of its themes from the biblical tradition, now typically reworking them in a less direct and mostly implicit fashion. [...]</q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=1%3A+Tenets+of+Economic+Faith&rft.btitle=Economics+as+Religion%3A+From+Samuelson+to+Chicago+and+Beyond&rft.place=University+Park%2C+Pennsylvania&rft.pages=23&rft.pub=The+Pennsylvania+State+University+Press&rft.date=2010&rft.isbn=9780271038612&rft.aulast=Nelson&rft.aufirst=Robert+Henry&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DRw-bHEGNqqcC&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Frationalwiki.org%3AReligion" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-17"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-17">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r2708880"/><cite id="CITEREFHeine1859" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/w/index.php?title=Heinrich_Heine&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Heinrich Heine (page does not exist)">Heine, Heinrich</a> (1859). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=cVImAAAAMAAJ"><i>Sämmtliche Werke</i></a> (in German). Vol. 6 (5 ed.). Philadelphia: John Weik & Company. p. 264<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2019-02-14</span></span>. <q>Paris, wie Sparta, hat seinen Tempel der Furcht, und das ist die Börse [...]. (Paris, like Sparta, has its temple of Fear, — it is the Bourse.)</q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=S%C3%A4mmtliche+Werke&rft.place=Philadelphia&rft.pages=264&rft.edition=5&rft.pub=John+Weik+%26+Company&rft.date=1859&rft.aulast=Heine&rft.aufirst=Heinrich&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3DcVImAAAAMAAJ&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Frationalwiki.org%3AReligion" class="Z3988"></span><span class="cs1-maint citation-comment"><code class="cs1-code">{{<a href="/wiki/Template:Cite_book" title="Template:Cite book">cite book</a>}}</code>: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (<a href="/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_unrecognized_language" title="Category:CS1 maint: unrecognized language">link</a>)</span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-18"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-18">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_market" class="extiw" title="wp:Bull market" rel="nofollow">Bull market</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-19"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-19">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoan_religion" class="extiw" title="wp:Minoan religion" rel="nofollow">Minoan religion</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-20"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-20">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraism" class="extiw" title="wp:Mithraism" rel="nofollow">Mithraism</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-21"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-21">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_Market" class="extiw" title="wp:Bear Market" rel="nofollow">Bear Market</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-22"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-22">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_knight_(business)" class="extiw" title="wp:White knight (business)" rel="nofollow">White knight (business)</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-23"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-23">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicorn_(finance)" class="extiw" title="wp:Unicorn (finance)" rel="nofollow">Unicorn (finance)</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-24"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-24">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r2708880"/><cite id="CITEREFNock2014" class="citation book cs1">Nock, Peter (2014). "Introduction - Religion and Industry". <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=8-a1BAAAQBAJ"><i>Consumerism versus Spirituality</i></a> (Revised ed.). Andrews UK Limited. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780957465718" title="Special:BookSources/9780957465718"><bdi>9780957465718</bdi></a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2017-06-25</span></span>. <q>Modern society is regaled with the gospel of consumerism, as distinct from the gospel of salvation, through faith in Christ.</q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Introduction+-+Religion+and+Industry&rft.btitle=Consumerism+versus+Spirituality&rft.edition=Revised&rft.pub=Andrews+UK+Limited&rft.date=2014&rft.isbn=9780957465718&rft.aulast=Nock&rft.aufirst=Peter&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3D8-a1BAAAQBAJ&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Frationalwiki.org%3AReligion" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-25"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-25">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharmic_religion" class="extiw" title="wp:Dharmic religion" rel="nofollow">Dharmic religion</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-26"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-26">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncretic_religion" class="extiw" title="wp:Syncretic religion" rel="nofollow">Syncretic religion</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-27"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-27">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">A lecture by Prof. Keith Ward (29 October 2009): <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.jamesgregory.org.uk/series-1/god-science-and-the-new-atheism/">"God, Science and the New Atheism"</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-28"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-28">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20182684">https://www.jstor.org/stable/20182684</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-29"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-29">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://archive.org/details/sacredsecularrel00norr_668">https://archive.org/details/sacredsecularrel00norr_668</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-30"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-30">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/111013/worldwide-highly-religious-more-likely-help-others.aspx">https://news.gallup.com/poll/111013/worldwide-highly-religious-more-likely-help-others.aspx</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-31"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-31">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-012-9761-z">https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-012-9761-z</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-32"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-32">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-30504-006">https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-30504-006</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-33"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-33">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16569567/">https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16569567/</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-34"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-34">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r2708880"/><cite id="CITEREFDyrendal2020" class="citation book cs1">Dyrendal, Asbjørn (2020). "Conspiracy theory and religion". In Butter, Michael; Knight, Peter (eds.). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=8DjSDwAAQBAJ"><i>Routledge Handbook of Conspiracy Theories</i></a>. Conspiracy Theories. Routledge. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780429840586" title="Special:BookSources/9780429840586"><bdi>9780429840586</bdi></a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">1 June</span> 2020</span>. <q>Conspiracy theory about religion typically focuses on ingroup/outgroup dynamics in complex socio-political situations. [...] That 'religion' also carries connotations of being a unifying discourse (or coherent set of beliefs) organised in communities and controlled by institutions, can go some way to legitimating fantasies of hidden, organised conspiracy. From another angle, 'religion' covers strategies for legitimising and delegitimising claims to authority, moral behaviour and ideas about what is the correct relation to other social groups, and may thus be used as a resource in both the promotion and arrest of conspiracy beliefs.</q></cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Conspiracy+theory+and+religion&rft.btitle=Routledge+Handbook+of+Conspiracy+Theories&rft.series=Conspiracy+Theories&rft.pub=Routledge&rft.date=2020&rft.isbn=9780429840586&rft.aulast=Dyrendal&rft.aufirst=Asbj%C3%B8rn&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3D8DjSDwAAQBAJ&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Frationalwiki.org%3AReligion" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> </ol></div></div>    </div></div><div class="printfooter">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" 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