Did religion ever bring anything to mankind?

[LTX]

170. You provided two answers yourself.

One is a fairly standard trope selected from the evolutionary just-so bucket. I tend to agree with Boyer that, while the contents of that bucket do not explain the root neurological phenomenon of religion, they nevertheless merit consideration as "tangible" corroboration of religion's effects, both negative and positive.

While you seem to discount the importance of your own "comfort" selection (and seem to have little interest in exploring the balance of the bucket), you nevertheless concede "a tangible positive input." Maybe your own, current material contentment has just temporarily dulled your ability to empathize with an enormous swath of humanity for whom "comfort" is more than dismissible silliness.


The second is the demonstrable inverse of your assertion in your point #2. While one can argue the causation/correlation question, you nevertheless acknowledge by your own framing of the issue that a mere "link" is significant.


Your question is good. But I wouldn't look to the necessarily short-form content of a message board for any kind of confirmation of your own (apparently pre-determined) answer to it. Boyer devoted more than 360 pages to an exploration of religion's origins and anthropological ramifications, and his well-researched and insightful contribution is just a sliver of the available pie.

On edit, I'm still curious about which societies invented no gods. Perhaps you can provide some examples. I confess to being ignorant of their existence.