People exist in a universe greater and more hostile than they could ever imagine. Everyone can be snuffed out in a heartbeat for no reason at all. There is no meaning or purpose. Humanity is nothing more than insignificant bacteria on the surface of some irrelevant rock. All of us will suffer and die and be forgotten as the nothings we are.
Now, you can choose to contemplate that existential horror and risk insanity, or you can cede to your culture and your biology (because we can induce religious elements with fNMRI and drugs to some degree) and pretend that you matter and that there is order and justice in the world.
Most people would rather spend an eternity burning in Hell than a second considering that their consciousness is a temporary accident of chemistry that will end very soon.
Your universe is full of threat, and that wouldn’t change if your entire universe was one tiny little room. People have always known that merely existing in their environment carries a significant risk of death. Knowledge of a bigger universe simply increases our awareness of doom.
As for an increase in secularism, I think that belief always finds purchase, and it doesn’t have to be in things we typically describe as religion. It’s not difficult to find people that believe things they either can’t explain (which is science, for lots of people) or things that are demonstrable bullshit (The Secret is a best selling book).
Belief has utility. It wouldn’t exist if it didn’t. Anything with utility can be preserved by natural selection. The same belief of Gods that built the Temple also built the entire society and infrastructure required to build the Temple. A myth created something real.
TL;DR—Religion exists because Cthulhu.
People exist in a universe greater and more hostile than they could ever imagine. Everyone can be snuffed out in a heartbeat for no reason at all. There is no meaning or purpose. Humanity is nothing more than insignificant bacteria on the surface of some irrelevant rock. All of us will suffer and die and be forgotten as the nothings we are.
Now, you can choose to contemplate that existential horror and risk insanity, or you can cede to your culture and your biology (because we can induce religious elements with fNMRI and drugs to some degree) and pretend that you matter and that there is order and justice in the world.
Most people would rather spend an eternity burning in Hell than a second considering that their consciousness is a temporary accident of chemistry that will end very soon.
People haven’t known that for long. And the knowledge coincided with a decline in religion.
Your universe is full of threat, and that wouldn’t change if your entire universe was one tiny little room. People have always known that merely existing in their environment carries a significant risk of death. Knowledge of a bigger universe simply increases our awareness of doom.
As for an increase in secularism, I think that belief always finds purchase, and it doesn’t have to be in things we typically describe as religion. It’s not difficult to find people that believe things they either can’t explain (which is science, for lots of people) or things that are demonstrable bullshit (The Secret is a best selling book).
Belief has utility. It wouldn’t exist if it didn’t. Anything with utility can be preserved by natural selection. The same belief of Gods that built the Temple also built the entire society and infrastructure required to build the Temple. A myth created something real.