What does a Silverback Gorilla and the Tower of Babel tell us about
Biology, Capital Punishment, and Ecology?
Consider the axiom; a population exposed to violence is more likely to use violence as a means of
conflict resolution. This statement seems straightforward,
and the data behind it (from many diverse
population segments, social, economic statuses, and education levels) is
overwhelming. Two swift examples are:
·
Boys who witness domestic violence at home are
twice as likely to abuse their partners and children [1].
·
Law enforcement officers abuse their partners at
twice the rate of the average population [2].
These
two examples are situations, we as a society, do not find acceptable. We can understand the psychology behind both
of these issues, namely exposure to an action; increases
the likelihood one will employ the same action. However, we do not accept these examples as
tolerable, and we are attempting to remove them from our culture.
There are other instances in our culture where we accept violence. The death penalty is one illustration of culturally condoned violence. There were some who thought a 2011 export ban by the
European Union on lethal injection drugs could end the death penalty in the
United States [3]. As the States
struggled to deal with the drug shortage [4], Utah lawmakers faced this deficiency
by bringing back Utah’s long history the use of firing squads [5][6][7] in
February of 2015. Utah made international
news when Governor Gary Herbert the signed the bill into law the following
month [8].
The negative effect exposure to violence has on societies is
well-established [9], but what affects does justified violence have on a
population? The definition of justified violence is sanctioned or authorized
violence by the ruling person or government.
Justice as a legal term, is the
proper administration of the law, without the assumed attachment of morals. The reason we must
detach morals from the definition of justice is that morals are
subjective. To allow an evidence-based discussion of the law, removal
of emotional attachment to the law is a
prerequisite. Thus, to impartially
explore the question; “how does justified violence, affect violence overall in
a population?” one must remove subjectivity.
Further, to narrow the scope the problem,
let's focus specifically on the death penalty.
In answering the first inquiry, we ask; does the death penalty
deter people from committing murder? 1) Compare the
murder rates in the death penalty states to the states that do not justify
state-sanctioned homicide. 2) How does the changing of capital punishment laws
in any given state alter the murder rate of that state?
§
States with the death penalty, on average, year
to year, have a 25% higher murder rate than states without state justified homicide
[10].
§
Utah was the first state to resume executions
after the 1967-1976 national moratorium on capital punishment [11]. The murder rate in Utah jumped 58% the following
year [12].
§
New Mexico is the last state to outlaw the death
penalty before 2015. The murder rate in
New Mexico dropped 36% as soon as the state citizens were no longer exposed to justified homicide [11].
The numbers suggest violence in a population will mirror the governing bodies’ level of justified violence. If the justice abolishes violence, the
population tends to follow the trend. However, if the justice system allows violence as a means of punishment, the populace
will accept and employ violence
at an individual level; trickle-down violence is the term used to describe this phenomenon.
Trickle-down violence is apparent in states that allow justified violence in many ways:
§
Police officer fatality rates are higher in
death penalty states [13].
§
Death penalty states are the worst states for
domestic violence against women, custody laws unfavorable
to women, and reproductive choices [14].
§
Child fatalities due to child maltreatment are
higher in states with justified homicide
[15]
The data suggests a populace will
follow the ideals or the “religion of the state”.
Understandably, this essay is at best pseudo-Bayesian. It would be
very hard to assign a probability to trickle-down violence as it relates
to state justified homicide in a short paper. However,
we can consign some frequency of the exposure to violence, as it will create additional disorder. We can also
articulate with an elevated level of certainty; government justified violence
does not reduce violence among the population.
If the death penalty does not
deter murders, but rather increases cruelty in a population, why are so
many states scrambling to keep the death penalty? We do know it is not for cost or tax reasons; capital
punishment cases cost the taxpayers
approximately four times more than a life sentence [16].
Could it be a reversal of
the cause and effect? Are the violent
tendencies of the populace trickling up to the state from the people? Could particular
societies value atonement for some crimes
more than the cost of implementing the punishment?
Exploring this the question requires examining other factors, starting with theology. There
is a greater correlation between violent crime and elevated religion then there
is with violent crime and the death penalty.
The ten U.S. States with the preeminent religious concentrations have a
78% higher violent crime rate than the ten States with the principal atheist populations [17][18]. This is
quite astonishing. Globally the murder
rate is 280% higher among the ten preeminent
religious countries compared to the ten countries with the principal atheist
populations [19][20].
All the religious
states and countries used in the calculations, which are prone to a higher
level of violent crimes vs. their more agnostic counterparts, are composed of Abrahamic
religions; Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Why are heavy concentrations of people following the Abrahamic God prone
to violence? Are the followers of the
God of the Old Testament (OT) the quintessential example of victims of
Trickle-Down Violence?
Reading the OT from the
beginning, within ten minutes, the reader will find this God has carried out
the far most massive genocide in all of literature (Genesis 7:23). This god’s name is Yahweh in Hebrew or Latinized as Jehovah [21]. Yahweh performed
the justified killing of all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians; all the
creatures of the sea (as that influx of fresh water would kill marine life),
including coral, octopus, urchins, clams, and seahorses. Yahweh justified the killing of all the
sponges, flatworms; Centipedes, spiders, crabs, bees, clams, dragonflies, and
butterflies. This justice even took all
plant life. In all, the story tells us
the judge killed all but a few
replicating pairs of one hundred million species [22]. If a god
was upset with the people s/he created,
why not talk to the people? An omniscient god can speak to the life s/he created. The point of being omniscient is to know everything, including communication skills.
With these communication skills,
it would be possible to talk to the created life forms. As parents we do not kill our children when
they defy us, we talk with them. We tell our
children why we do not approve of certain behaviors, using reason. We are not omniscient parents, yet in our
limited capacity, we still use logic. Yahweh,
while preeminent, fails to use logic and reason, choosing instead to invoke
justified killings. Consider for a
moment the one hundred million species (less one) the OT God took justice on were not involved in the judgment. Genesis 6 tells us God only judged
“humankind”, yet he decided to drown all the other species as well.
By Genesis 9, we are
taught the justice can declare slaves of other humans. In Genesis 12 Yahweh afflicted
Pharaoh and his family with plagues because Pharaoh gave Abram’s wife, Sarai, a
home.
One has to assume Yahweh was upset with Pharaoh for sleeping with Sarai,
the story does not tell us. However,
the story does tell us Abram lied to Pharaoh stating Sarai was his sister. Why would an all-knowing god send plagues to Egypt when Pharaoh was not the one deceiving? Pharaoh was simply a gracious host, or
maybe he was in love with Sarai.
Genesis 11 is the story of the Tower of
Babel. Many
are taught as a child the people of Babel were arrogant, and God
punished them for it. Let us go back and
read this chapter again. Read the
multiple translations, King James, New American, Basic English, Darby, World
English, and others. The story of the
Tower of Babel is a story of people with a humanistic dream. They are
telling each other to build a tower so the people would not be divided; to
allow all the people to work together to communicate and do good things. Yahweh came down to see what they were doing,
and he saw they were working together, he saw there was nothing the people
could not accomplish by working as one. The people were adopting humanist ideas and
habits. The people came together and
realized they have the knowledge and resources to build one nation in
peace. Yahweh destroyed the dream.
Unity, communication, and cooperation towards collective goals are not God’s design. Why is the grouping of people of such high importance? The Book of Daniel repeats
the theme of teaming one group against another. Daniel is inspired to create
a grouping based on a moral order against dominating foreigners. In Daniel the Jewish base the term messiah
on the anointed, who will establish a
paradise for one group while destroying one's enemies.
The story continues oddly in Genesis 19. In this verse, Lot took in, housed, and fed
two strangers for the night in Sodom.
The men of the city came to see who the strangers were; Lot offered the city men his two virgin
daughters to do as they please if they would go away. The city men turned down the offer but still wanted to meet the
strangers. The strangers, who in the
story are angels, blinded the men so they would go away. They then judged the city wicked and then destroyed the
city, killing the inhabitants the next day.
The angels then turned Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt for watching the
city burn. There was no discussing of what
was wicked; there was no evidence
provided, only justified killing of all in the town
by the two angels who held power to carry
out the killings. The man who should have been punished was Lot, who offered up his daughters for public raping,
not the city people curious about the visiting strangers.
In the first few pages of
Genesis, the justified killings performed directly by Yahweh outnumber the murder
in all human examples of genocide: the killings of Native Americans, the
Holodomor, the Holocaust, and the Qing Dynasty. Attila the Hun, Genghis
Khan, Ivan the Terrible, Pol Pot, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Vlad Dracula
combined and cubed come nowhere near to the killings of Yahweh.
Exodus 12 is the story of when the Abrahamic God was having
a power struggle the Pharaoh. Instead of talking and using logic with Pharaoh, Yahweh
decided the best form of action was to kill all of the firstborn in Egypt –
people and animals – unless one places the blood of a lamb on the top and sides of
the door frame. What did the
children have to do with the Pharaoh?
How were they responsible for the disagreement with the Pharaoh? There is a plausible answer for this story,
and the previous stories outlined later
in Exodus, which becomes clear in Exodus 32.
Exodus 20 is the story of Yahweh giving his laws, known as
the Ten Commandments, to Moses. We learn from these verses Yahweh is a jealous god. The
first five rules are (taken directly from
Exodus 20:3 to 20:8 of King James):
- · Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
- · Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is the Earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
- · Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. For I Yahweh thy God am a jealous god, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.
- · Thou shalt not take the name Yahweh, thy God in vain; for I will not hold him guiltless that taketh my name in vain
- · Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
These are the most relevant
laws to the Abrahamic God. Why is God
jealous? He does not need to be jealous;
he is all knowing and does not require resources. If there are no lack of resources, why the
jealousy? God requires nothing from humans. These laws are self-loving, egotistic, and
arguably narcissistic. How did humanity
come to worship a god with jealous rules
when God has nothing to be jealous of? Consider an alternative list of
commandments:
- · Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you.
- · In all things, strive to cause no harm.
- · Treat your fellow human beings, your fellow living things, and the world in general with love, honesty, faithfulness, and respect.
- · Do not overlook evil or shrink from administering justice, but always be ready to forgive wrongdoings freely admitted and honestly regretted.
- · Live life with a sense of joy and wonder.
This latter version seems more reasonable for humanity. The first example appears to be suspect with respect of coming from an all-knowing god owning all the resources, due to lacking guidance in creating a moral human interaction with all possible surroundings. The second example of a top 5 holds a higher humanistic version of morality.
Yahweh laws continue in
Exodus 21, 22, and 23: Yahweh’s laws included
rules on how to sell one's daughter as a slave (21:7). A slave’s children are the property of the
master (21:4). Rules additional wives
are to follow (21:10), and the death penalty (21:14-15). These rules call for capital punishment for
using profanity at one parent. However,
if a man beats a woman while she is pregnant, causing her to abort the child
the punishment is to be determined.
Rules on killing witches (22:18), death penalty again (22:19), and
giving to any other god will result in
“utter destruction” of oneself (22:20).
Yahweh also demands the first ripe fruits, wines, and each firstborn son
be given to him (22:29). There is an overall theme in Exodus 21, 22, and 23 of how
to kill, when to kill, how worshiping Yahweh will
result in the destruction of one enemy
and adversaries. These extended Commandments are a list of how not to behave in
today’s civil society. We certainly do
not derive modern western morals from Yahweh’s laws.
One of the commandments Moses brought down from the mountain
is “Thou shalt not kill.” However, what was the first order of business
Moses took care of when he reunited with
his people? He had three thousand men
killed (Exodus 32:27-28). It is quite
clear this commandment is law one applies to the in-group. People who do
not follow the same rules as you (people who break the law) are not part of your group; the not-kill
law is not applicable to outsiders. This
is why in Exodus 12, God could kill all the first born of Egypt while still
following his commandments; The firstborn
of Egypt were not in God’s group.
From the review of Genesis and Exodus, should it come as a
surprise higher concentrations of people, in a population, who worship Yahweh result
in increased societal violence? If a
god, not only allows but also adopts a logos of committing justified violence;
the people who pray to that god will be
a product of trickle-down violence. Some parts of the world still enforce the laws of
Yahweh, the Islamic State for instance.
The 2015 flogging of Raif Badawi in Saudi Arabia [36]; the morality in
these societies has not evolved beyond OT morality. In the U.S.,
elected officials such as Sam Rohrer had argued as late as 2014 “Capital
punishment is as necessary today as it was when God himself instituted it more than
6,000 years ago. . . . God established his moral command in the OT . . . God’s moral law underpins all legitimate
civil law.” [28]. Currently, Mr. Rohrer holds
the position of the President of the American Pastors Network.
Sam Rohrer’s morals are in line with Yahweh, but for a
growing number of people, OT morality is repugnant. For the rest of us, we must ask; if our
individual and collective morals are higher than that of the god we worship, why does such a god deserve worship? Why do
we teach our children to worship
behaviors considered morally wrong in today’s post-supernatural world? The answer to
this question is quite likely the same as why many states continue capital
punishment when it does not work. Is there a biological reason for why we choose
this type of god and the laws that come with
it?
Globally the religion-violence connection is particularly associated
with developing countries lacking
resources. The link to violence may be
due more to biology and competing for resources than to the level of
religion. However, one must still consider why there is a violent link to
religion at all. Most gods that have been
followed at some point in human
history; Zeus, Jupiter, Odin, and Yahweh
are all extreme versions of alpha males.
They are self-described jealous gods, i.e., they have alpha egos. They all have a very robust hand and promises resources and protection if followed
(Genies and Exodus are both good examples of promises of protection). These alpha beings do not seek approval from
others because they do not need it.
Jesus, Buddha, and Gandhi while
egoless, are alpha characters too. They
do not seek approval of others either, but for different
reasons. They just do not crave the approval
of others as most of us do.
Consider if one’s resources
are limited. What did one have to do
throughout biological evolution to survive?
We attached to and followed an
alpha male for protection and resources.
Which is why most gods people have developed
in our history, or in polytheism the god which the lower gods follow, are
alphas. Primates are biologically
attracted to alpha leaders.
People needing resources are more likely to
shadow the alpha Yahweh due to
biological evolution. Those requiring means
are more likely to commit violence; hence the link between religion and
violence!
In the Late Bronze Age
(1500-1200 BCE) the Eastern Mediterranean was a hub of commerce. Mesopotamia, Greece, and Egypt were proud
empires. Commerce took place over land
and sea. The people had organized trade
markets in tin and copper (used to make bronze, hence the label of the Bronze
Age). It was a time of Greek, Egyptian, and
Mesopotamian religions. The Babylonians
developed ethics, reasoning, and rationality.
Early Mesopotamia evolved a Constitution,
which protected the poor, and orphans. The Babylonian
law protected property, leasing, labor, debt, trade, marriage and divorce, and
even adoption [23]. Then the climate changed, introducing droughts and
resource contention, alongside the Trojan
Wars, and the fall of Babylon. The Bronze
Age collapse was sudden, literacy decreased, technology was lost, and it took centuries to recover. The Eastern Mediterranean fell into a dark age. “It was a cataclysm of immense proportions: Near
the end of the 13th century BCE, the great Bronze Age civilizations of the
Aegean and Near East suddenly collapsed.” [24]. The OT
writings in Genesis and Exodus are a product of this dark age following societal collapse. People were fighting for survival; they
lacked resources, safety, and
security. This insecure time in history
is what brought on the development of the OT;
the robust male figure Yahweh entirely replaced the old Mother Earth goddess
types. Similarly, Christianity’s spread
throughout Europe coincided with the fall of Rome. Islam’s growth was out of an eight-year Meccan
tribe war. Buddhism major growth
occurred in the third century BCE in the Maurya Empire during a time of misery and death of the Kalinga
War. These male-led religions all grew out of human anguish and despair.
Hinduism is the only, of the five major world religions, which is not known to
have spread from a tormented period.
Hinduism is so old it does not have a known beginning. Shakti, the supreme being of Hinduism, is a
female who embodies feminine energy.
Shakti is a rare example of a surviving “Divine Mother” from the ancient
religions; dating back to the times of the Bronze Age Mesopotamian gods.
Richard Carrier, a Columbia
University Ph.D. in ancient history, notes in On
the Historicity of Jesus (2015) pp 161:
For a cult (defined as any group of people outside the orthodox, following
religious practices based on doctrine) to start three conditions must be met. 1) A society fragmented both racially and
culturally, under the reign of a foreign power.
2) A feudal agrarian state in which the lower class is in opposition to
the official regime. 3) A situation in
which, a military solution is obviously unable to succeed in changing the
political structure of a society suppressed by war or other means. This third condition
can then produce an “apocalyptic,
non-militarized grassroots movement.” Anyone familiar with Christianity can link the connection of
the Messianic Jews who started the “cult” to these three elements. However, some
may not know Buddhism, Islam, and the Jewish religions also come from “a
subjected people, in relative poverty, powerless, effectively dominated by a
foreign people (either directly or through collisions with an unresponsive
local elite) who are racially and culturally different from themselves, and
whose economic and military capability is so staggering it cannot be overcome.”
Out the Bronze Age Cataclysm,
the Jewish people chose Yahweh as God to protect in-time of need, to provide for family and community. Consider the
cosmology in the Middle East, before the Common Era, divided the universe into
layers with the foundation holding up the others. The underworld
(which no longer makes any sense now that the Earth is known to be a sphere) holds
up the Earth. The area between the Earth and the Moon.
Followed by the area from the Moon to Mercury, Venus, the Sun, and the
other planets, then finally the stars as a single layer on top of heaven [29]. These bands make up the seven layers of
heaven. 1 Enoch and 2 Enoch
(Ancient Jewish texts, ~300 BCE) discuss these seven layers of heaven. In this Jewish, pre-Christian but mostly
pagan world, philosophers, such as Philo of Alexandria (25 BCE – 50 CE), wrote
that the middle layers are the place of intermediary beings and invisible
creatures. These ideas lasted well into,
and past Paul the Apostle’s time (born ~5
CE). Souls, demons, and angels acting as
intermediates between gods and humans, as well as between advisories and
humans, lived in these layers. Plutarch (the Greek historian born at the end of Philo
life, 45 CE), tells us some of these ‘great demons’ became neither gods nor
men, but incarnated on Earth as a demigod or Son of God (or Son of Man). Isis, Osiris,
Hercules, Dionysus all descended from the ferment (layer of heaven), as a Son
of God (albeit different gods), acquired a body and then were killed,
resurrected and risen back to the ferment in an immortal divine body. Presumably, it is more than a consequence that
Paul’s description of Jesus resurrection (1 Cor. 15) was in a heavenly body as
well. The idea of a Rising and Dying Son
of God was abundant in the Greek writings
of the time. All of which had the standard message; the element of death can be overcome thru the resurrection of these
demigods. Plutarch further explains that in the
worldview these beings living in the layers are the ‘elements’, and these
elements are the powers of the universe.
A soul, demon or angel in this
time was the personification of what is known today as a force of nature. Plutarch’s writings show us, what we now call
the principles in the laws of physics, were then angels or demons - up to and well beyond the start of the Common
Era. For the people who wrote and
followed the Enoch texts, Yahweh created a group for support that allowed protection from and passage to these elements
in the layers of heaven. Later this
group thesis continued in the Messianic Jews, whom in following the anointed or the Messiah
(Hebrew for a Christ) in Paul’s teaching fulfilled the predictions in Daniel. We could infer that these groups (or enemies)
in the OT and NT are derived from physical signals feeding the brain by our ears,
eyes, or skin. Alternatively, we could
consider these enemies as invisible demons created
in the mind. It is not necessarily important either way; the important element is Yahweh
gave people an in-group. Yahweh then protects and provides for those
in his group. Humans anthropomorphized this
God, who represents the alpha male, owning all the resources. Gods such as Odin and Yahweh are the
representation of what biological evolution tells us we should be when we are
in need. Yahweh is the definitive alpha
silverback gorilla.
The conditions that brought about the start and spread of
these religions lasted into the 20th century in Europe; 18th-century English occupation of
Scotland is one example. Occupations in the Greater Middle East and in
Africa are continuing today with no 21st-century resolution in site. Invasions of
Afghanistan have been a reoccurring theme in our age, the product of which is well known to all. Occupations take away hope in reason and give to the thought process the
“elements” are uncontrollable without the assistance of a supernatural power. However, there are many regions today, which,
have been free of conquest and war for long enough that the policymakers’
generation have never been exposed to these conditions. Denmark is one such place. Of all the countries in the world today, religion
is least important in Denmark. Almost 90% of the Danish people find religion
unimportant [19]. Why is religion nearly
non-existent in Denmark? Denmark is free of the conditions which
religion thrives. Denmark has the
world’s lowest level of income inequality and the world’s highest minimum wage [25]. Estonia, Sweden, Norway, Hong Kong, Japan,
the Netherlands, and Finland also top the world in the unimportance of religion. These countries represent developed,
advanced, high-income economies. They
rank very high on the Human Development
Index; including civil liberties, press freedom,
and education [26]. One may attribute
the lack of religion in these countries to the lack of the natural need for a
god. The citizens in these societies understand,
natural events are governed by natural laws; a volcano eruption is not an act of
an angel, demon, or a god, rather it is the result of plate tectonics or a hot
spot in the crust. Alpha gods are not required when the society is
peaceful, equal and has an understanding
of the physical world they live.
Countries, which rate
very low on the Human Development Index; Nigeria, Somalia, Morocco, and Egypt
are among the most religious in the world.
Population suffering from lack of
freedoms, secular education, income inequity, and social unrest, develop an organic
need for the protection of an alpha god. Religion thrives in disorder, confusion, inequity, and in
a weak understanding of the physical world. The Bronze Age
collapse shaped the atmosphere in just such a way. Allowing the creation of a new religion and a
new god; a mighty god who will lead an army into battle (1 Samuel 15:3). A god who will send angels and plagues to
destroy cities (I Chronicles 21:15). With a set of laws that not only allow but promote
justified violence those outside of one's group.
Looking towards the future,
religious influence has been on the decline in the West since the
Enlightenment. In the 16th century,
John Calvin stated, “the more prosperous and comfortable his Genevans became,
the less dependent they were on the church.” [27]. A 2012 survey by WIN-Gallup International
found that religiosity decreased by nine
percentage points between 2005 and 2012 worldwide. Also, according to a new Pew Research Study, the largest
religious affiliation in the world is now the “Nones,” with no religion at all. In the U.S.,
one out of six are now Nones, by 2050, it
is trending to one in four. As this
transition occurs, America will find
itself at odds with the morality of the laws of the OT. More and more Americans will see the death
penalty as immoral and unacceptable. The
issue is not so much as to if a certain
individual may or may not deserve demise.
Rather the allowing of capital punishment to be administered by the
authority erodes at the humanity in the core of
society. Figuratively speaking;
the man hits his boy, the boy kicks the dog, and the dog eats the cat.
The 21st century may be the end of times for religious
influence in the West. However, the Greater Middle East and Africa will take
more time to stabilize, and thus it is expected
religion will remain dominant on the African continent for the near future. What
would cause a reversal back to religion in the West? A climate disaster, wars fought over oil; failure of electronic communication and the collapse of the Internet. In essence,
a repeat of the Bronze Age catastrophe would provide the fear and misery in
which religion would flourish.
Consider the political agenda of the evangelical
right-wing. The right-wing’s fight for the removal
of environmental protection laws, keeping the minimum wage low, the fight against
single-payer health care, distrust of public education
and welfare programs – all play into the favor of promoting inequality, which
in turn keeps religion attractive. The push against minimal national science education and
support for private school vouchers leaves subjects such as evolutionary
biology to the most potent political force in any given school district, in a
strike against STEM; leaving a child in Jackson Mississippi at an extreme disadvantage
to a child born in Palo Alto. The
battle against marriage equality by definition
creates inequality. Laws against legal abortion [robust empirical data supports
the conclusion that legalized abortion results in lower crime and poverty
rates] ensures the continuation of poverty. Higher poverty = higher imbalances in a population = religious fervor.
The policies mentioned above
are essential in maintaining a vigorous house
of God. Worthy of a new national
discussion is, with growing right-wing strength will Amendment 1’s separation of church and state continue to dissolve? Is the rise of Christian Nationalism an
indicator that the U.S. will trade-in our secular foundation in favor of a theocracy
like government? A government that leans
towards theocracy, away from science, and promotes religious strategies that encourage
population growth and disregard environmental protection laws. The combination of climate change and
overpopulation will create resource contentions. Is this a self-fulfilling Armageddon policy
in front of us? Would any right-wing advocates candidly admit that yes, Armageddon is the end goal? Anyone
of these policies would be considered a mere
coincidence on their own. But all of
them? Did all of these policies come together
under one machine merely by chance?
Reviewing what we know, at a high level, due to
evolutionary biology humans are attracted to alpha gods when faced with
adversity. When societies cannot
overcome adversity on their own because they
are subject to a considerably superior and
culturally dissimilar military force, grass root organizations promoting a
savior alpha god can develop and
flourish. Lastly, conditions of economic,
social, and educational inequality, allow for faith in a particular religious
system to stay intact. In this, we also
know that alpha gods enable and perform
killings outside the group and to those in the group who do not follow the
rules. Thus, a society, which follows an
alpha god, would not be morally opposed
to capital punishment. However, if you look at some of the leaders in the
U.S. who support justified homicide such as Sam Rohrer, Ted Cruz, John Boehner,
and Mitch McConnell; they are not undereducated or economically marginalized
citizens. Ted Cruz is a Princeton
and Harvard Law School graduate, obtaining summa cum laude in the latter. It is not
plausible to argue they are unaware of the data, and known human physiology,
which tells us keeping the death penalty legal increases violent crimes, and
physical abuse at all levels of society. One could assert they support it only to
align with their constituency, but we must judge their ideas based on their
words and their voting record. As with
the biological attraction to an alpha god,
it is feasible to reason these titled individuals choose their position in
contrast to the data due to a primary
human behavior process.
To help frame a possible
underlying process, in which, an educated follower of Yahweh would still
support capital punishment, it is important to note there are three
distinct humankind creation instances carried out by Yahweh in Genesis. The first
creation is described in Gen 1:27: God created both man and women in “our
image.” The second creation of earthly
man, from dust, is in Gen 2:5. Finally Gen
2:22 describes the creation of earthly woman from man’s rib. Philo describes the three creations as the
perfect celestial Adam & Eve, and the copy of them made of earth that
parented humankind. Recall the seven layers
of heaven described in Jewish texts, according to the Revelation of Moses; paradise is located in the third heaven or
above the Earth. Adam and Eve are cast down from this
paradise to live on the Earth in the second and third creation (or a copy of
them). Literally
meaning the Tree of Life originated in outer space! In 2 Cor.
12.2-4 Paul shared this view, [the original] Garden of Eden is located in this third heaven. 2 Enoch
and Philo in On the Life of Moses
are also clear there is a paradise that is better than this world. A perfect version of animals, trees, and soil
was created for this Eden in outer
space. The perfect creation was also
described in Heb 12.21-22 to Moses when he ascended the mountain. It is in the Dead Sea Scrolls (4Q400-407 and
11Q17). Col 2.8-10 warns one not to
focus on the earthly version of creation.
The elemental spirits (what we
know today as the laws of physics)
represent vile and corruption. The
famous equation E=mc2 is nefarious by this process, and in the same scene
following empirical data over Yahweh’s laws is equal to sinfulness. Thus, explaining
how Cruz and other intelligent leaders, despite the adverse effects of, still support capital punishment. There is an underlying message in all three Abrahamic
religions, stemming from the OT to not focus on this earthly life. True wisdom and happiness are to be found not
on Earth, but somewhere else in another layer.
Heb 9.22-24 goes as far to read:
According to the law almost everything is cleansed
by blood, and apart from the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. So it is necessary that the copies of the
things in the heaven should be cleansed
with these; but the heavenly things
themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ entered no into a holy place made with hands built to look
like the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God
on our behalf.
For Yahweh, blood is required
for forgiveness in the other layers not built by human hands. This answers the question. The rationale
of the educated and influential in the right-wing, to keep in place the support
of capital punishment is based on the teaching of the Bible and thus moral (from
their vantage point) despite empirical data suggesting it increases violence. Punishment by blood is required, as Sam Rohrer wrote in his defense of the death
penalty. Capital
punishment is a prerequisite for
salvation in their version of reality. Further, voluntary human sacrifice was viewed as valor in both the
Jewish and pagans of the time.
Voluntarily exchanging death for salvation was common in the Greco-Roman
culture [34]. These ideas can be mirrored in the Jesus crucifixion stories. The idea that human sacrifice will allow for
salvation does not make logical sense to the modern secular mind, but the
Jewish use of human sacrifice as atonement magic appears server times in the OT
[35].
This may be the real true horror of the Abrahamic religions;
“paradise is somewhere else.” The idea
evokes a sense of superiority and entitlement for humans to view the Earth as a
test-run for something that is eternal someplace else. This approach
impedes long-term investment in our planet.
This idea states humanity is in its
last few generations on Earth and thus environmental conservation for the next
thousand generations is non-consequential. Again, this explains why the right-wing is uninterested in environmental protection
programs. This plan fails to understand the most significant afterlife, is the life
we leave behind to the generations that will follow us.
What does a Silverback Gorilla and the Tower of Babel tell
us about Biology, Capital Punishment, and
Ecology? Everything!
As an afterword, consider what we can do accelerate the
secular moment. Lord Carey, the former Archbishop
of Canterbury, tells us the Church of
England is losing members at a rate, which will close the institution in one
more generation (2015) [30]. This is the
effect of a well to do population. We
can see these positive signs throughout Europe and America. However, among the marginalized American and
European young black communities, Islam
is on the rise. [31]. Supporting
national and community leaders who promote equality and educational investment
is crucial. Shielding our youth from
the public promotion of superstitious beliefs is paramount. For supernatural ideas to take hold in the
human mind, these ideas must be promoted in early age. There is a known “4 to 14 Window” in which
religion targets children; this child evangelism
program is not hidden by the right-wing.
“Research compiled by the
Barna Group shows that children between the ages of 5 and 13 have a 32 percent
probability of accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior. That likelihood drops to
4 percent for teenagers between the ages of 14 and 18” [32]. The best way to protect our children from
these groups is to educate them and ourselves on both the biology and historical
creation of religion.
Religion evolved out
of early ceremonial rites. The evidence suggests
Hominids (Neanderthals and Homo heidelbergensis) began these practices 300,000
years ago [33]. The oldest known animal
worship is dated to the Aurignacian
culture 40,000 years before the current
time. Animal worship sites began
appearing in North Africa and Europe about the time Homo sapiens first migrated
to Europe [34]. The Neolithic Revolution, approximately 12,000 years ago,
marked the human transition from hunter-gathers
to farming societies. The stability of
having a set home allowed for fewer
people to produce more food. This
revolution allowed humans, for the first time, to specialize, to have distinct jobs
and roles in society; blacksmiths, builders, civil posts, and priests. Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel (1997) is an
excellent book for anyone wanting to learn more about how and where this transition took place. Worship sites such as Stonehenge and Hinduism begin in these times. Five thousand years later in 3100 BCE, Stonehenge was completed. This deserves
a second look; the U.S is just over two hundred years old, Stonehenge took 5000
years to build! Religion primarily evolved from animal worship to
celestial worship; the Sun, Jupiter, and
Mars. The Egyptian Pyramids are constructed and the Sumerian Epic of
Gilgamesh, whom many believe were the
precursor to numerous OT stories, was written.
An imperative change happened in religion during this time; humanity created moralizing high
gods. The personification of gods, where
each society created gods out of their image.
Vedic gods were Indian, Greek gods were Greek, Celtic gods were Celtic,
North gods were Northman, Egyptian gods were Egyptian, and so forth. It should
come as no surprise thousands of years later the Jewish god’s prophets of
Abraham, Isaac, Noah, Moses, and eventually, Jesus are all Jewish. The Jewish demigods certainly could not have been Egyptian or Roman. Each god
was the protector of his or her own
people. This was the first time in human
history in which societies were complex enough to create high gods. There is a
detailed 2015 publication by the Royal Society; Broad supernatural punishment but not moralizing high gods precede the
evolution of political complexity in Austronesia, which concluded: “high
gods” cannot exist without a complex society. This conclusion is in-line with Jared
Diamond’s writing. Oddly, the
human invention of farming 12,000 years ago, paved the way for the creation of
large high god religions. The celestial and high god religious
environment remained in divided along cultural and national lines. Until the cultural collapse at the end of
the Bronze Age, changed the environment in such a way allowing the hard wiring
in the human brain, to create an alpha god.
Marking a relatively new change in the direction of religion. There is no single event, which represents
the beginning of humanity; it is a subjective
idea. However, if we agree to age
humanity by the first evidence for rituals, then
the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic movement have only been part of humankind for 1% of our species existence. It took the transition from hunter-gathers, to farmers, to complex
societies, to create high gods. Then it
took the collapse of this complex society for the creation of the alpha god
Yahweh. Dr.
Hector A. Garcia, a professor of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Health
Science Center at San Antonio, has published research on the how human
evolution produced the physiology in the human brain to create the alpha god
Yahweh in book Alpha God (Prometheus
Books, 2015). The first step in
ending religion is identifying why it exists, through the understanding of
history and human biology. The next step
will naturally follow.
[1] Domestic
Violence: Fast Facts on Domestic Violence. (n.d.). Retrieved
from http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/domviol/facts.htm
[2] Police domestic
violence nearly twice average rate ... (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Police-domestic-violence-nearly-twice-average-rate-2536928.php
[3] Can
Europe End the Death Penalty in America? — The Atlantic.
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/02/can-europe-end-the-death-penalty-in-america/283790/
[4] Death
penalty states scramble for lethal injection drugs ...
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://kfor.com/2013/11/16/death-penalty-states-scramble-for-lethal-injection-dr
[5] Utah House lawmakers
vote in support of firing squad proposal ... (n.d.). Retrieved from
[6] Firing Squad Executes Killer
... (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/27/us/firing-squad-executes-killer.html
[7] Utah Looks to Old
Execution Method: Death by Firing Squad ... (n.d.). Retrieved from
[8] Utah governor signs
law allowing firing squads for death penalty executions ... (n.d.).
Retrieved from
[9] The effect of exposure
to violence on young children. Osofsky, Joy D.
American Psychologist, Vol 50(9), Sep 1995, 782-788
[10] Murder Rates
Nationally and By State ... (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/murder-rates-nationally-and-state
[11] GREGGv. GEORGIA,
428 U.S. 153 (1976) ... (n.d.).
Retrieved from
[12] Utah Crime Rates 1960
- 2013
[13] Police Office
Fatality Rates by State ...
(n.d.). Retrieved from
[14] Crisis In the Family
Courts ... (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://abatteredmother.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/10-worst-states-to-be-a-woman/
[15] Child Welfare
Outcomes 2008-2011 Report to Congress ...
(n.d.). Retrieved from
[16] Considering The Death
Penalty: Your Tax Dollars At Work ... (n.d.). Retrieved from
[17] Frequent Church
Attendance Highest in Utah, Lowest in Vermont ... (n.d.). Retrieved from
[18] Violent Crimes per
Population ... (n.d.). Retrieved
from
[19] Importance of
religion by country. Global Study on Homicide... (n.d.). Retrieved from
[20] Intentional homicide
count and rate ... (n.d.).
Retrieved from
http://www.unodc.org/gsh/en/data.html
[21] Is God’s name Yahweh
or Jehovah? ... (n.d.). Retrieved
from
http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/is-gods-name-yahweh-or-jehovah
[22] How Many Species on
Earth ... (n.d.). Retrieved from
[23] Baikey, Nels (1967) The
AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW Volume LXXII, Number 4. Early Mesopotamian Constitutional Development
[24] Stiebing, William H. Jr.
(2001) Death of the Bronze Age. Archaeology Odyssey BAS Library.
[25] Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2013 .. (n.d.). Retrieved
from
[26] Human Development Reports . . (n.d.). Retrieved From
[27] Why the Future of Religion Is Bleak . . (n.d.). Retrieved From
[28] Capital punishment for murderers is just. . (n.d.) Retrieved
From
[29] Cleomedes. On the Heavens 1.7; 2.1 and 2.3.
[30] Church of England ‘will be extinct in one generation’ warns ex-archbiship . (n.d.) Retrieved From
[31] Emergence of Islam in the African-American Community. (n.d.) Retrieved From
[32] The 4-14 Window . (n.d.) Retrieved From
[33] Python
Cave" Reveals Oldest Human Ritual, Scientists Suggest". National
Geographic.
[34] Several examples are documented in Doran, “Narratives of Noble
Death”, pp. 385-99 387-88 on Decius. And
Walter Burkert, Structure and History in
Greek Mythology and Ritual (Berkeley, CA; University of California Press,
1979).
[35] 2 Sam. 21.1-14, Deut. 16.9-10, Lev. 23.11, Num
25.1-8, Num 25.13.
[36] Sadi
Arabia, Free Raif Badawi (n.d) Retrieved From
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/actions/saudi-arabia-free-raif-badawi-flogged-blogger
No comments:
Post a Comment