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+--- Thread: Article Why every society has supernatural beliefs (/thread-13923.html)
Why every society has supernatural beliefs - C C - Apr 4, 2023
https://theconversation.com/supernatural-beliefs-have-featured-in-every-society-throughout-history-new-research-helps-explain-why-203041
EXCERPTS: . . . Yet despite these specific examples, we know little about which kinds of phenomena people try to explain using religion. If religion helps us fill gaps in knowledge, what kind of gaps is it most likely to fill?
Our international research team has pursued this question over the past five years, by surveying ethnographies from societies around the world and throughout history. We found societies are overwhelmingly more likely to have supernatural beliefs that concern “natural” phenomena, rather than “social” phenomena.
[...] nearly all the societies we surveyed had supernatural explanations for natural phenomena such as disease (96%), natural disasters (92%) and drought (90%). Fewer had supernatural explanations for warfare (67%), murder (82%) and theft (26%).
[...] The global prevalence of naturally focused supernatural explanations is one of the most striking findings from our research. It’s partly surprising because current major religions such as Christianity and Islam are very social institutions.
Contemporary Christians rely on their religious beliefs as more of a social and moral compass, rather than a way to understand the weather. Similarly, the Bible seeks to explain a variety of social phenomena.
[...] We found societies develop more supernatural explanations for social phenomena as they get bigger and more complex. More populous societies with currency and land transport were more likely to explain events such as theft and warfare using supernatural principles than small hunter-gatherer and horticultural groups.
We can’t say with certainty why this is... (MORE - missing details)