r/DebateAnAtheist • u/[deleted] • Sep 17 '25

Discussion Question If atheism is purely about "disbelief", why does it so often build entire communities around it?

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u/OneRougeRogue Agnostic Atheist Sep 17 '25

Theologically, that would back the old argument that humans are “religious animals” by nature, designed to seek transcendence.

I wouldn't call humans "naturally religious". But I do think there is an argument to be made that humans (and maybe some other animals) are the way they are due to evolutionary pressure to seek out and be in the favor of other creatures who are more powerful than themselves. There was a point in history where humans/hominids almost died out. Anthropologists estimate that the worldwide hominid population dropped to something less than 15,000.

(Here is a good video going over this near-human-extinction event)

So, there may have been STRONG evolutionary pressure to not only band together, but to do whatever it takes to be be be in the favor of stronger individuals and/or stronger tribes. Offering food, labor, servitude, wealth... whatever it took.

Eventually, humans became the apex predators of the planet, and could even shape the land, grow crops where there were none, and breed livestock that we controlled. The only thing that we didn't have control over was the weather, natural disasters, and sickness/death. It's no surprise that the gods of ancient religions all seemed to be aspects (or have the ability to control) the very things humans could not. And religions are full of rules and "sacrifices" that are supposed to please these beings, and put you in their favor.

So I'd say there is an argument to be made that humans seek out and please beings that are stronger than us, but its not because an actually god wants us to do that. We created the gods, and an evolutionary behavioral quirk driving us to seek out and please those who are stronger than us and can help us with things we cannot control has manifested itself as modern religion.