Religion

MineralMan

(147,606 posts)

5. "special niches that might have played a role in ritual."

Thu Jul 25, 2019, 08:26 AM

Jul 2019

Key words: "Might have."

Inferring religious belief from burial practices is common. Why those burial practices existed remains unknown. Making assumptions about why people do or did things is specious, and derivative of current practices. That trick works poorly.

The thing about death and burial is that the people were loved and missed by those close to them. Rituals to demonstrate that are not necessarily tied to religious beliefs.

"Here! Put toy in hole! Og loved toy!"

Edit history

Please sign in to view edit histories.

61 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Israeli archaeologists discover signs of religion in 9,000-year-old city near Jerusalem [View all] guillaumeb Jul 2019 OP

most of the figurines found from before 5000 bce or so are female bloom Jul 2019 #1

In my view, the focus here was on the age of the settlement. eom guillaumeb Jul 2019 #14

FAKE NEWS!!!! AJT Jul 2019 #2

These were 9,000 Biblical years. eom guillaumeb Jul 2019 #7

statuettes and figurines Cartoonist Jul 2019 #3

Some Christians would indeed. guillaumeb Jul 2019 #8

Believing in nonexistent beings is the commonality Cartoonist Jul 2019 #9

Theism is the commonality. guillaumeb Jul 2019 #11

He's saying they believed in an interventionist creator Major Nikon Jul 2019 #16

Religion does indeed have very deep roots. trotsky Jul 2019 #4

Except unlike religion, those things have always gone together with humans Major Nikon Jul 2019 #6

"special niches that might have played a role in ritual." MineralMan Jul 2019 #5

And these funerary rituals, as you know, guillaumeb Jul 2019 #10

Some non-theistic animistic religions also buried MineralMan Jul 2019 #12

To your example, guillaumeb Jul 2019 #13

That does not require theism in any way. MineralMan Jul 2019 #15

... Major Nikon Jul 2019 #17

LOL! Ban Straws! MineralMan Jul 2019 #18

"Obvious" to you perhaps... uriel1972 Jul 2019 #20

Why do you assume 'need'? AtheistCrusader Jul 2019 #28

Because Joe, in the example, is dead. guillaumeb Jul 2019 #30

Doubling down on your *claim* of 'need' doesn't actually demonstrate an actual need. AtheistCrusader Jul 2019 #32

If the objects were in the grave, someone placed them there. guillaumeb Jul 2019 #36

You say that as if the existing studies and claims in this area are not contested at all. AtheistCrusader Jul 2019 #37

Climate change is measurable. guillaumeb Jul 2019 #38

Hence the source of my objection. AtheistCrusader Jul 2019 #55

Belief in some form of afterlife does not require theism. MineralMan Jul 2019 #40

If we can see from the written record that human societies that left a written guillaumeb Jul 2019 #41

You can infer many things from many things. MineralMan Jul 2019 #43

And the same applies to your own inferences. guillaumeb Jul 2019 #45

Buddhism is not theistic muriel_volestrangler Jul 2019 #59

True, but I did not say all societies. eom guillaumeb Jul 2019 #60

'all' was implied by your remark in full muriel_volestrangler Jul 2019 #61

History is not evidence of naturalism. Act_of_Reparation Jul 2019 #19

That they may... MAY have had religion... uriel1972 Jul 2019 #21

It is an argument that theism, and religion, have deep roots. guillaumeb Jul 2019 #22

It's a pathetically poor and biased argument, but yes, it's an argument. trotsky Jul 2019 #57

Is this one of those things where every statuette is assumed to be a 'fertility goddess' without AtheistCrusader Jul 2019 #23

That question is one you might discuss with the actual archeologists guillaumeb Jul 2019 #24

Pointless. If you're in the paradigm, you can't see the paradigm. AtheistCrusader Jul 2019 #25

But this sculptor might have no knowledge of the history of fertility statues, or religious guillaumeb Jul 2019 #26

All true. But there are ways to tell what something might be, from the thing itself. AtheistCrusader Jul 2019 #27

But we cannot truly understand how people from 9,000 years ago really saw some of their artifacts. guillaumeb Jul 2019 #29

You assume too much. It's funny that you decry patriarchal erasure of Mary, but you actually perform AtheistCrusader Jul 2019 #31

And you are not in the paradigm? guillaumeb Jul 2019 #34

I accept that it is a POSSIBILITY, but do not assume it is the actual fact. AtheistCrusader Jul 2019 #35

Here's the 'decolonizing gender' article. I implore you to read it. AtheistCrusader Jul 2019 #33

I did read it. guillaumeb Jul 2019 #39

The intent could be a lot of things. The lack of perspective of an observer of a second person AtheistCrusader Jul 2019 #56

Agreed. guillaumeb Jul 2019 #58

And here we have evidence again edhopper Jul 2019 #42

If religion is innate in humans, guillaumeb Jul 2019 #44

Perhaps this; perhaps that. Before long, you'll MineralMan Jul 2019 #46

And your own belief system? guillaumeb Jul 2019 #47

What belief system is that? MineralMan Jul 2019 #48

You believe that you know, and you have faith that your knowledge allows you guillaumeb Jul 2019 #50

The untold number of edhopper Jul 2019 #49

Perhaps what you see as contradictory the Creator sees guillaumeb Jul 2019 #51

At least in the fable, there was an actual elephant. edhopper Jul 2019 #52

How do you know it was an elephant? eom guillaumeb Jul 2019 #53

that is the fable edhopper Jul 2019 #54