They Told Us To Just Believe
Critically Thinking About the Origins of Beliefs – Are they real?
Table of Contents
Introduction What is This Book About?
Where in the world did our beliefs come from anyway? Shedding the light on what is real and what is fiction.
Chapter 1 We’re Number One!
Ranking the biggest organized religions in the world by the number of followers because everyone knows, superior numbers equal power. How can they all claim to be the best?
Chapter 2 Religious Auto Enrollment
How and when did most of us adopt our beliefs and make our religious choices? Often the answer is, blame your parents!
Chapter 3 Immaculate Conception Stories – How Could There Possibly Be This Many?
Similar story, different Gods. The prerequisite to becoming a God – your father needed to be a God or spirit, because everyone already knew the identity of your mom.
Chapter 4 The Big Man Rules!
The origins of ancient religions, including the beliefs in a variety of gods as a way to explain the world, and how these religions transformed as societies shifted from hunter-gathers to food producers.
Chapter 5 Religious Roots Sprouting in the Fertile Crescent
A majority of current day religions all have roots in the same geographical area, specifically the Fertile Crescent. Why here? The abundance of food gave them a head start.
Chapter 6 The Many, Many, Many Gods of Hinduism
An introduction to Hinduism, the oldest major religion in the world, having evolved over thousands of years – as much a culture as it is a religion, made up of a web of customs, obligations, traditions, and ideals and not just a system of beliefs. And yes, there are many, many Gods.
Chapter 7 Buckle Up – A Chronicle from Zoroastrianism to Abrahamic Religions
Zoroastrianism? Never heard of it! And yet their thinking led to inventions of the Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
Chapter 8 A Who’s Who of the Best-Selling Religion Founders
Confucius, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad – founders of the best-selling religions of all time. Their life stories, as told through the verbal retelling over many generations, gives a glimpse into these men’s lives, albeit with hardly any provable authenticating facts.
Chapter 9 I Talked to God, and He Said to Tell You…
The origins of many well-known spiritual world beliefs came from direct communication with God with no corroborating witnesses. We’ll explore some of the explanations for these supernatural events.
Chapter 10 I Know Math, So How Does 1 + 1 + 1 = 1?
How do monotheistic religions, the so-called “one God religions,” justify still believing in many gods? It’s a mystery!
Chapter 11 The Devil is in the Details
Are there really supernatural devils lurking among us? A look at the origins of devils as well as our current visualizations of them – because including bad guys always makes for a good story.
Chapter 12 Church Service – Rated R for “Intense Graphic Violent Images”
How images of a man’s death through crucifixion and the idea of eating God and drinking his blood became mainstream – perhaps a little inappropriate for young children.
Chapter 13 If You’re Happy and You Know it, That’s a Sin!
Who is to blame for western Christian culture becoming so prudish and guilt ridden? Saint Augustine of Hippo, the first born-again Christian and the father of the Inquisition, is a good place to start.
Chapter 14 This Calls for a Celebration
Some are joyous, some are somber – highlighting a few of the main religious holidays celebrated around the world; their origins, links to pagan festivals, ties to secular observances and related traditions, rituals and customs.
Chapter 15 Another Powerful Empire Bites the Dust
Tolerance to people’s beliefs and cultures is essential for survival of an empire, whereas, intolerance leading to oppression and subsequent economic decline can collapse even the mightiest of empires. The Roman Empire – here’s looking at you!
Chapter 16 Does God Really Bless America?
The founding of the United States was not supernatural, nor endorsed by God. Rather, the Founding Fathers used knowledge of history, reasoning, and philosophy to engineer this modern-day great empire.
Chapter 17 And Now, My Thoughts
Time to share my thoughts – the things I “know” to be true about religion and then my “beliefs” in the absence of facts or proof. Just one man’s beliefs.
Reference Sources