JMcC
> Now on to the god meme. How radioactive.
> You state that the god meme is the "popular
> conception of the god(s). That IS about whether higher entities exist
> and about their features" ... ok let's run with that. Let's think about
> how this meme came about.  (01) 
The so-called "god meme" is not innate, but it arises in every
(or nearly every) human society by a very simple mechanism.  (02)
> Did individual persons develop this belief on their own, assigning
> reality to something they could neither see nor touch? If yes,
> then I'd agree that a meme is an emergent consensus of sorts.
> Or was it something they were TOLD by intellectuals seeking to
> create a caste of wizards, medicine-men, and priests?  (03) 
Option #1 is the correct answer, but the beliefs are based on very
tangible, but dimly remembered phenomena and experiences:  (04)
 1. Every child is born as a helpless infant into a family with
 very powerful god and goddess figures: protectors, care givers,
 law givers, and law enforcers who deliver swift and sure penalties.  (05)
 2. Some families have only one or two children, but most people are
 born into larger families -- for simple statistical reasons.  (06)
 3. Each child identifies with the much weaker siblings close to his
 or her age, who are all dependent on and governed by the older
 wiser, wealthier, and much more powerful god(s) & goddess(es).  (07)
 4. The pair of all powerful figures turn out to be good old mom
 & pop, whom the child reveres, but the teenager rebels against.  (08)
 5. But even as an adult, people have a nostalgia for a simpler and
 more secure "golden age" when the all-knowing, all-powerful god
 & goddess provided the child with all good things.  (09)
There is a huge literature about mythologies around the world, and
their psychological, psychoanalytic, sociological, literary, and
linguistic implications.  (010)
If Dawkins seriously wanted to study the "god meme", he should have
done his homework before popping off with some half-baked opinions.  (011)
For anybody who wants to study the god meme, my recommendation is to
start with gods such as Zeus or Wotan and goddesses such as Demeter
or Venus. Very few people worship them today, but they have influenced
many centuries of literature -- and very similar themes and plots occur
in modern literature and movies.  (012)
It's possible to formulate and discuss hypotheses about them
with more insight and less heated polemics.  (013)
John  (014)
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