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The Evolution of Gods: The Scientific Origin of Divinity and Religions, by Ajay Kansal
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This book explains why, when and how humanity invented various religions and gods.
The process began around 100,000 years ago; during this epoch, many nomadic human bands, all over the world, invented primitive languages and began to decipher each happening around them. Whatever they could not comprehend, their chiefs or priests attributed to some unseen power.
At some point in time, we do not know exactly when it happened, humans invented an activity: they began to worship each seen or unseen power, which was beyond their control, but could either harm or help them. They invented almost identical methods of worship, such as folding their hands, bowing, kneeling, floral offering, prayers and sacrifices.
For example, anthropologists believe that during the last Ice Age, humans had largely inadequate protection against cold; their survival depended largely upon available sunlight—something beyond their control. In that scenario, solar worship was a logical outcome. In a similar manner, they found thunder and lightning inexplicable and frightening; gradually, they began to worship the sky as a god. There is enough historical evidence to assert that the ancestors of Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Christians and Muslims worshiped the sun and the sky, before their religions came into practice.
The ability to speak and share their ideas helped humans invent many useful devices such as hearths, stitching needles, leathers and footwear. With their aid, they began to lead an easier, healthier and safer life. Consequently, their population began to increase: approximately 10,000 years ago, it exploded to such an extent that they faced a food crisis. Since necessity is the mother of inventions, several human bands invented the technique of cultivation. Farming necessitated them to settle down near fields and ultimately gave rise to homes, villages, cities and civilizations. Gradually, farmers began to face famine caused by droughts and floods. The priests of several places in the world visualized fertility gods and goddesses behind the growth of their crop, and people began to worship them.
Around 3,000 years ago, cultivation paved the way for another population explosion. At the same time, a sedentary lifestyle exposed people to pets, rodents, mosquitoes, houseflies and other parasites. All these factors together gave rise to devastating new diseases such as cholera, tuberculosis, typhoid and plague. Furthermore, huge population instigated social diseases such as poverty, inequality, injustice, crime and exploitation. Consequently, most people were forced to lead miserable lives no better than hell. Around this time, several saints such as the Buddha and Moses visualized the remedies of human sufferings. Contemporary priests transcribed their teachings as the holy scriptures. These books mentioned worship of new gods, sacrifices, magic or morals to eradicate human miseries: the miserable masses had no option but to follow those advices. These scriptures fashioned the organized religions of today. Thus, history demonstrates that whenever humans faced a new challenge, priests invented a more useful deity and consigned the older one to oblivion.
Although humanity invented gods to wrestle with their mysteries and miseries, religious dogmas halted the progress of science, facilitated human exploitation, instigated many massacres and wars throughout history and ultimately gave rise to modern terrorism. The knowledge about the evolution of gods may vaccinate the readers against the disease of fanaticism.
Let us think for a moment why humanity developed several religious concepts but only one science. For example, one dogma avers idol worship and the other asserts the contrary: scientific principles have no such ambiguities. There is a concrete reason behind this contradiction: about one thing or concept there is only one truth, but there can be many lies. This book is an effort to light a candle in the darkest corner of human consciousnes
- Sales Rank: #180477 in eBooks
- Published on: 2012-08-09
- Released on: 2012-08-09
- Format: Kindle eBook
Most helpful customer reviews
35 of 35 people found the following review helpful.
Unique and Welcomed Perspective
By Book Shark
The Evolution of Gods: The Scientific Origin of Divinity and Religions by Ajay Kansal
"The Evolution of Gods" is a very ambitious and interesting book that explains the evolution of gods. It explains the when, why and how humankind invented divine powers. The book focuses on archeological and literary evidence. It also provides a brief history on Hinduism, Judaism and Christianity. Dr Kansal does a commendable job of supporting his main argument that the gods have been invented by humankind. This insightful 212-page book is composed of the following eleven chapters: 1. Life after Death, 2. Birth of Gods, 3. Learning to Survive, 4. Learning to Write, 5. Sacrifice---to Bribe Gods, 6. Gods and Demons of Diseases, 7. Hinduism, 8. Judaism, 9. Christianity, 10. Origin of Life, and 11. Why Gods Are Still Alive.
Positives:
1. Well researched and accessible book for the masses.
2. Good use of reason and sound logic. In defense of science.
3. Anthropology provided interesting information about prehistoric human groups. The impact of language, agriculture, roles of gender...
4. The earliest forms of religion. Burials, human and animal sacrifices, the emergence of the soul, etc...Good stuff.
5. The fundamental features of almost all religious ideologies.
6. Archeology provided the evidence needed to make sound conclusions about prehistoric lifestyles which included their beliefs and practices.
7. Thought-provoking statements backed by sound reasoning. "Whenever people encountered some power beyond their control that could harm or help them, they began to worship that power". Many examples provided.
8. Agriculture and the worship of female deities.
9. Provides compelling evidence in support of the main argument that the gods have been invented by humankind. A recurring theme looked at various angles and from different perspectives.
10. The impact of written language. The Rig Veda which describes the most ancient religion of the world. Sun worship.
11. An interesting look into the religious practice of sacrifice. From human to animal sacrifices. Interesting takes and a personal aha moment.
12. The correlation between diseases and the human quest for unseen gods. A look at primitive medical practices. Witchcraft. The evolution of medicine.
13. An excellent chapter on Hinduism. The rituals, the beliefs, a look at some of the most powerful gods, the evolution of the religion (the various versions), etc...A welcomed perspective indeed and one that will benefit a western readership. Kudos.
14. Judaism and the main players: Noah, Abraham, and Moses. Monotheism.
15. A look into the evolution of Christianity. The depiction of Jesus in the bible.
16. The quest for the origin of life. Evolution.
17. The importance of studying the history of religions and gods.
18. The four pillars of the building of religions today. Debunks each pillar.
19. The dangers of religion and the correlation to poverty.
20. Bibliography was provided.
21. A great Kindle value.
Negatives:
1. The prose is not as polished as I would have liked. A good editor would have smoothed out the rough edges.
2. No links to citations or notes.
3. Not enough focus on how neuroscience and beliefs relate.
4. There are more effective ways of debunking the soul.
5. Illustrations, charts, diagrams would have added value to the book.
6. Low production value but at a reduced price, why am I complaining?
7. There are better books on this subject. Please refer to my further suggestions at the end of this review.
In summary, Dr. Kansal does an effective job of supporting his main argument that the gods were invented by humans. This book is very ambitious and as a result of that I felt the author spread himself a little thin. The book also lacks polish, the prose lacked style. This is definitely a book of substance over style. That being said, Dr. Kansal provide some interesting and well argumented ideas and there is a lot here to like. The chapter on Hinduism is a welcomed perspective. A lot of great and interesting ideas and this is truly a great Kindle value, I recommend it!
Further suggestions: "The Invention of God: The Natural Origins of Mythology and Religion" by Bill Lauritzen, "The Invention of the Jewish People" and "The Invention of the Land of Israel" by Shlomo Sand, "The Invention of Religion" by Alexander Drake, "The Evolution of God" by Robert Wright, "The Bible Unearthed" by Israel Finkelstein, "Society without God" by Phil Zuckerman, "Why We Believe in God(s): A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith" by J. Anderson Thomas, "God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question--Why We Suffer" by Bart D. Ehrman, "Immortality" by Stephen Cave, "Why Are You Atheists So Angry? 99 Things That Piss Off the Godless" Great Christina, "50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God" by Guy P. Harrison, "Doubt: A History" by Jennifer Hecht, "Man Made God: A Collection of Essays" by Barbara G. Walker, "The Believing Brain" by Michael Shermer, "Subliminal" by Leonard Mlodinow, "Human" Michael S. Gazzaniga, "The Belief Instinct" by Jesse Bering, "God's Defenders" by S.T. Joshi, "The Faith Healers" by James Randi, "God and the Folly of Faith" by Victor Stenger, and "Atheist Universe" by David Mills.
33 of 38 people found the following review helpful.
Disappointed
By Summer Prescott
I stumbled upon this book as the result of a well-publicized book tour and was immediately intrigued and excited by the subject matter. I read the preface, which in and of itself was exhaustive, and found myself apprehensive and fervently hoping that the actual content would be presented in a more engaging manner that would compel me to read further. Such was not the case. I understand that the intent is to inform, but the tone and pace were so meticulously dry that, despite my profound interest in the subject matter, I gave up after the first few chapters, not bothering to wade through the rest of the book. From a content standpoint, I was disappointed to see that, while clearly well-researched, many assertions were made without references backing them up. Referring in a nebulous fashion to "studies have shown..." or "anthropologists believe..." doesn't build sufficient credibility to support ensuing statements and assertions, and disqualifies the book as a serious or significant work on the subject. Bottom line, I was excited to begin the book, and became disenchanted quite quickly.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful.
I think they published the first draft!
By Gary Doty
I'm an atheist, and have been looking for a book on this subject for awhile now and was excited when I found this. HOWEVER, this book is an abysmal read. It's a conglomeration of short, poorly structured sentences which makes it appear like a high school book report. I'm not sure if it was originally written in another language and then directly translated, but it lacks the narrative a book of this subject deserves. As another reviewer states, the "Select Bibliography" lists some books but they are not referenced in the actual text with their page numbers, which makes this book useless if one is engaged in a religious debate.
The author actually takes the time to express his "deep sense of gratitude" to Mr. Shantanu Ray Chaudhuri from Harper Collins publishing for "editing" this book. If anyone at Harper Collins reads this, please find Mr. Chaudhuri and dismiss him! If my suspicions are correct and this book was translated, then Dr. Ajay Kansal was done a huge disservice by his editor and publisher.
On the actual subject of the book, the facts are incontrovertible, ancient man created gods to explain the unexplainable. Now that science has explained most of the mysteries of life, the only thing gods are good for today, are to comfort the love ones of those that have died.
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