the Gods

[claymore]

Why has every civilization,culture, society, tribe, from neanderthal to modern man felt the need to have a deity / god / object, that they could worship, make sacrifice and pray to ? {maybe its in our genes?}

[beso]

There are distinct advantages to a population willing to work together under the coordination of a leader. The God delusion is simply an extreme case of devotion to a leader.

The limiting factor of this evolutionary trait is the waste of human and material resources devoted to the worship of the supreme leader. Where societies are relatively wealthy the devotion to the deity can become quite extreme.

Many Arab societies have little need for material wealth and plenty of income from oil. Consequently we see extreme religious devotion. The USA is wealthy and the devotion is strong. However the extreme personal greed stops it getting even more extreme.

[jno]

in the earliest days of humanity nobody understood how the world worked - particularly the weather - and assumed there were beings who controlled it; so you'd pray to them for a good harvest or good health.

Researchers a couple of years ago did say they thought there was something hardwired in some people - a sort of religious gene - but I can't find a link to it.

[naturekid]

Because Yahweh created man, and through biblical history revealed Himself to man in various ways, the most important being through His Son Jesus Christ. The "need" you referred to in your question is a natural, God-given part of our makeup, but it has been tainted and marred due tou our inherent sinfulness. God, since the Fall of man has been at work redeeming mankind and His creation back to Himself. Next in His timeline is the Second Coming of Christ, which is imminent.