Religions’ centuries-long endurance is an interesting topic to think about. However, there are simpler explanations for the longevity of religious beliefs than attributing them to some sort of supernatural causes—ones involving some sort of memetic selection. I am pretty sure there are good and detailed studies out there in the internet that you could read for a more detailed argument on that, maybe even on this site, but as for a simple explanation, here is a hypothesis that I could come up with in about 5 minutes of thinking:
Here is a list of certain traits that are common to many long-surviving and wide-spread religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam are the most fitting examples) :
Indoctrination starts in the family at a young age
The strength of belief (especially, unreasoning belief) is considered something positive and praiseworthy
A large value is placed on holding this exact set of beliefs
Not-believers (atheists or people with differing religious views) are described as inferior
There are promises of reward for the faithful (in this world and after death) and punishment for the unfaithful
There are various well-established practices and rituals that can be seen as directly intended for increasing the strength of the belief
At least to me, those seem like the exact traits needed for a set of beliefs to become self-reinforcing and infectious, so I wouldn’t be very surprised if a belief set with such traits survived a long time. Actually, I do not remember seeing a post here that would go into more depth on this, but maybe I will compose one, if I have the time and people think it is an interesting topic.
Religions’ centuries-long endurance is an interesting topic to think about. However, there are simpler explanations for the longevity of religious beliefs than attributing them to some sort of supernatural causes—ones involving some sort of memetic selection. I am pretty sure there are good and detailed studies out there in the internet that you could read for a more detailed argument on that, maybe even on this site, but as for a simple explanation, here is a hypothesis that I could come up with in about 5 minutes of thinking:
Here is a list of certain traits that are common to many long-surviving and wide-spread religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam are the most fitting examples) :
Indoctrination starts in the family at a young age
The strength of belief (especially, unreasoning belief) is considered something positive and praiseworthy
A large value is placed on holding this exact set of beliefs
Not-believers (atheists or people with differing religious views) are described as inferior
There are promises of reward for the faithful (in this world and after death) and punishment for the unfaithful
There are various well-established practices and rituals that can be seen as directly intended for increasing the strength of the belief
At least to me, those seem like the exact traits needed for a set of beliefs to become self-reinforcing and infectious, so I wouldn’t be very surprised if a belief set with such traits survived a long time. Actually, I do not remember seeing a post here that would go into more depth on this, but maybe I will compose one, if I have the time and people think it is an interesting topic.