Why have religion?

We've been discussing in class ur-religion and the first concepts and ideas about religion. We read about Frazer, who thought that science would eventually replace religion altogether. But obviously it hasn't. Of course, we don't know everything yet, so one could speculate that it could still be possible, but that theory isn't really considered anymore. So why do we have religion? Why did these first peoples come up with otherworldly ideas and beliefs? And why does it still continue so strongly today?

I was raised in a non-religious family, so I feel like I have more of an outsider's view when it comes to religion. Perhaps because of this, I never saw the point. I didn't think I needed a higher power to tell me what I should and shouldn't do. I didn't think I needed someone to pray to in order for things to go my way. That's all I thought religion was, and I didn't understand why everyone believed. Then, in high school, my best friend started going to youth group at a church where some other people I knew went. I felt so left out. I thought it was unfair that I couldn't really be a part of that group because I didn't believe. My friend made a lot of other friends there and had a great support network. This was the first I really thought of religion as a community oriented group. I know people who go to church more for the people than for the service. I speculated in my last post that the primary element of religion was a need for belonging and community. But that can occur in many different types of groups, such as a family, a band, an age group. So why does religion need to come into the picture? Of course, community isn't the only reason religion forms.

I read a book called The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I don't agree with everything he says, I don't disagree with everything, but a lot of it made me think. A main part of his argument I was interested in was his claim that we don't need religion, that it actually does more harm than good. I don't remember all of what he wrote, I read it a while ago and I didn't have enough critical reading skills to really analyze what he was saying. I didn't know enough about religion then either. Growing up without one, I had a bias against them because I didn't see the point. As I learn more about them, I see the parts of religion that I hadn't noticed before, the parts that don't seem as crazy to me. But I still think about why we have religion. I've done fine without it. True, I feel like I would enjoy the sense of community from it, but that comes from my personality. Sometimes I think it would've been easier for me to interact with people and have a network of friends if I had been part of a religion. But I could've gotten that from many other places; sports, school, volunteer groups, anything else where you hang out with people. It has nothing to do with me not having a religion, just how I am.

So, individually, I don't need religion. But maybe humans as a species do? I don't know. I don't know if we will ever know. Just something to think about.