Esprit de Corps

I just finished reading Don Cupitt's book, After God: The Future of Religion. It was an interesting read. On the one hand, it contained a good, albeit brief, description of the historical formation of religious belief and it's filled with great insights. On the other hand, though Cupitt posits that God is imaginary, he contends that believing in an imaginary being still has some merit. I thoroughly enjoyed the book except for this rather weird conclusion.

This book has certainly piqued my interest in studying more about the history of religious thought. As Cupitt explains it, early humans believed in spirits or totems, but not gods. These spirits moved around just like the hunter-gathers who claimed them. The conception of gods didn't arrive until people started gathering together in communities as the result of the development of agriculture.

As people became more settled, their beliefs in the supernatural began to settle too. The development of gods provided the community with two important elements: a means of establishing order and control plus an esprit de corps.

The law and order portion should be readily evident to any serious student of history. It was developed to provide legitimacy to those in power. If your ruler supposedly is getting his orders from the community's deity, the rabble is far more likely to fall into line without much, if any, protest. And, since the ruler and his cronies are the ones transmitting the message from the deity, the divine tends to favor whatever the ruling cabal desires!

But the creation of the Gods wasn't only about earthly control and accumulation of wealth. It also provided each community with a sense of cohesion and camaraderie. Even more importantly, it provided the people with a specific identity. I think I can best illustrate this point with the following example:

A man has walked down a road and comes into a settlement. Understandably, he is tired and hungry. A local townsman (the host) is standing in front of his abode.

Host: Who are you?
Stranger: I am called Bob.
Host: Bob?
Stranger: Yes, Bob.
Host: What do you do, Bob?
Stranger: I'm a sharpener of sticks.
Host: So, Bob, Sharpener of Sticks, you don't look familiar. Are you from around here?
Stranger: No, I am from the land of the people who worship the Almighty Zoor.
Host: Oh, you're a Zoorinian! Why didn't you say so?

At this juncture, the conversation most likely will go one of two ways. If the community of the host worships a god who is on good terms with Zoor...

Host: Woman! Bring Bob some wine and meat! Bob, come in and rest yourself. You must be weary from your travels.
Stranger: Thank you, kind sir.

Oh, but if the community's deity is an adversary of Zoor...

Host: I bet you're tired from your travels.
Stranger: I am indeed. Might you share a little wine and meat?
Host: I'm sorry, but I can't do that. In fact, not only will I not invite you into my home, but I have to kill you.
Stranger: What? Why do you have to kill me?
Host: Because our god, the Great Flambe, has ordered me to kill all followers of Zoor.
Stranger: I think I'll be on my way then.
Host: (stabs "Bob" with dagger): Take that, you evil person of Zoor.

And the fundamentalist religious amongst us have behaved in basically the same way ever since!