Religion has been a part of mankind since the dawn of civilisation. For many thousands of years, our ancestors and their descendants believed that there was more to existence than could be seen with the eye, and these beliefs usually revolved around deities that not only created the reality that we interacted with but had the power to control and even punish their subjects.

Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are the three biggest religions in the world and are widely practised by billions of people around the world. Here we will explore the reasons that we, as a species, have always been drawn to religious belief systems.

1. Sense Of Purpose

Humankind has come a long way in terms of scientific discoveries, and we’ve unlocked secrets about our reality that our ancestors would have dismissed as magic. But science has also explained the nature of creation and life, and how the many systems in the world at play work together.

For many, this removes a certain “magic” from reality, removing the belief that our species is special in some way and that we were created by a deity or deities for some specific purpose. It’s one of the oldest philosophical debates of all time, and one that religion is able to fulfil very easily.

2. The Afterlife

Death is something that no living being is able to avoid – entropy is a fundamental force of the universe, and sooner or later, we all will eventually succumb to death. Science has found no evidence whatsoever that an afterlife of some kind exists, and it’s easy to understand why so many people fear this notion.

Nobody wants to one day close their eyes and simply stop existing, never to experience a warm, sunny day, or the embrace of someone that we love. On top of that, it’s also impossibly difficult to accept that the people we love the most in the world will one day simply cease to exist and that we’ll never be able to interact with them every again.

3. Community

One of the reasons that we have been so successful as a species is due to the fact that we have worked together to benefit one another, even to the point where we were able to outcompete many other hominids.

The sense of community and belonging is ingrained into us on an instinctual level, and there are few other systems of belief that quite bind people together quite as well as religion. It creates a true sense of community that belonging that many battle to find in other aspects of their lives, meaning that there will always be a place for religion within society, similar in many ways to online betting NZ.

4. Sense Of Justice

Morality is something that has been developed over countless centuries; the ability to divide right from wrong. Religion can do this extremely well by having a system of punishment and reward in place, and it’s been extremely effective in building global beliefs in morality.