Evolutionary Religion

Last weekend, being Easter, I was called by several of my family members to wish me tidings on the holiday. More than once I was asked if I went to church, which made me think why they would ask that. I myself am not an avid church goer, nor do I really believe in the gospels and words of God that most religions teach, and my family is pretty aware of this. But, that isn't to say I don't have faith in a transcendent being or beings. It makes me wonder how many other people feel this way. Spirituality and organized religion often go hand in hand, but they're not the same thing. 

Religion, in my eyes, is in fact a whole other thing. There are a lot more people who are "religious," than there are people who are spiritual. Most people that I personally know claim to be religious, but only turn to their religion in times of need. In the article "Born believers: How your brain creates God," Michael Brooks explains the phenomenon of the rise of religion in times of global crisis. As the article states, "Our brains effortlessly conjure up an imaginary world of spirits, gods and monsters, and the more insecure we feel, the harder it is to resist the pull of this supernatural world." 

If we all think back to times that we've encountered something complicated, we've probably looked to some higher power and asked for help wether it be on the SATs, or for patience. It's not wrong, nor is it uncommon in any way. Though it's arguable about whether the presence of a God is real or fabricated, it's not undeniable that we embrace religion and the unexplainable more readily when we're in distress. Brooks points out that this belief in God(s) is connected to our need to thrive. Religion and it's foundations, in recent times, have been believed to be "an evolutionary adaptation that makes people more likely to survive and pass their genes onto the next generation."  

It's ironic to think about these two ideas in conjunction with one another, religion being a facet of the evolutionary process. Seth McFarland's short video about Monkeys talking about religion satirizes.

The two sides had argued against each other for years, but now scientists are now linking the two as one justifying the advancement of the other. The more you look at it, the more it seems fesible. If we look at how far both we as a species and we as a society have advanced, it makes sense to link evolutionary progress to religious progress. The further we move along in development, the more religion changes and morphs to conform to our societal needs. Could it be that in fact evolution and religion can't exist separately from one another? 

Where did religion come from??

Some of you may remember my previous post, helping to explain what religion is and why it is important to us. Recently I had watched a video called "Zeitgeist." This movie is very controversial, due to the many conspiracy theories discussed within it This video discusses, among other things, the origins of most of the religions in the world. The point this movie makes is that many religions have very similar qualities, teachings, and even religious stories. Although the entire movie may be found here, I found a clip on Youtube that, while cut short by Youtube's time cap, is perfect for this.

This video also shows just how easily a religious text can be misinterpreted, as the video explains that much of the writings are based upon constellations and their relationship with the sun, rather than what the religious stories told today tell us happened for real in the world. Perhaps this revelation can help us connect to other people with different religious beliefs than our own, and develop a bigger understanding of the cultures around us.

Solitude and the Chaotic Life

Personally, I text message at least 75 times a day. This is a recent development in my life actually. When I first signed for my cell phone plan, I only had a plan for 300 text messages thinking that I would never go over that. And I didn't for a while. But as I began to make more friends and be more social, I found my bill becoming more expensive. The moment when I realized that my texting was becoming a bit outrageous was when I got the bill for $209, $140 of that being charges for going over my texting limit. I knew I had to make a choice. I chose to switch to an unlimited texting plan. To me, the extra $15 a month for the plan was a small price to pay for being able to stay connected to all my friends. In this clip from Family Guy, even in a crowded theater these friends need to communicate.

The End of Solitude is an article that describes how solitude is hard to come by currently. I agree. My life is very chaotic and I rarely have time to myself. This winter was probably the most hectic time in my life. Between school, work, coaching, and driving to and from all these different places, the last place I wanted to be was alone. When I did have time to be alone, I chose not to. I wanted to be with my friends having fun rather than sitting alone doing school work. If I feel like this, I'm sure many other students have this problem as well. Solitude is just not a priority in the lives of busy people. I do feel the toll that always being on the run and surrounded by people has had on me. My health, my spirituality, and my relationships are all affected. I'm sure I'm not the only one. With the declining number of people who are religious I'm sure that being to busy is a big factor in their decision as to whether they should go to church or watch TV with their friends and family.
Given the choice, after a long week of studying and working hard, would the students in the class rather sit alone by themselves or go have a good time with their friends?

How Far Would You Go?

In the recent news, Bernie Madoff is being charged with 11 felony counts of fraud. Federal prosecutors estimated clients losses to be around $65 billion dollars, including fabricated gains. Madoff was convicted of running a Ponzi scheme which is an operation that pays returns to investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors rather than from any actual profit earned. Madoff made billions of money by cheating his clients of their money and even had $1 billion of his money in assets that were overseas such as a house in France that was worth $1 million dollars and had around $900,000 worth of furniture and paintings. Many of Madoff's clients went to his court trial to testify about their investments, watch a small clip of an interview with one of his clients here.

Not only did Madoff get in trouble but so did his accountant, and that raises the question of is fraud contagious? An article titled "Is Fraud Contagious" talks about the Madoff scandal and why people cheat. People that cheat and don't cheat both weigh the benefits and costs that can come from fraud but honest people see that the costs out-weigh the benefits. Personally, I don't believe I could ever cheat or commit fraud because the chances of getting caught are huge. Madoff starting scamming his clients in the 1990's and didn't get caught until now, but did he think that he could get away with stealing around $50 billion dollars from people? As an accounting major ethics play a huge role in my life because my clients need to be able to trust me with their finances and assume I will do the right thing. Embezzlement is a huge problem in my profession because of the amount of money that one person can handle and work with. My accounting teacher told us that her old job made everyone take a week off every two months or so, so that they wouldn't be able to steal money. That's a smart idea even though in a perfect society we shouldn't have to think that our employees would steal from us.
I believe that morals and ethics play a huge role in ones decision whether to cheat or be honest in their everyday lives. Would you be willing to cheat people of their money or would your ethics and morals overpower your urge to this horrible crime? How far would you go?