>Why? Why not just list the customs and describe them as part of the natural world? Why the recourse to the "supernatural," to gods, spirits, totems and so forth?
Religion is is the ultimate expression of authority. Early humans didn't have the resources (or the need) for the scientific method of enquiry, where all existing wisdom is subject to challenge. Customs changed and knowledge increased very slowly, and anyhow the "why" questions are a luxury when you are struggling for survival.
So many things that your ancestors have discerned about the world must simply be accepted without question. Otherwise, if every member of the tribe gives up the hunt and becomes a philosopher, the tribe will starve.
> (I am aware that premodern societies do not distinguish between the natural and the supernatural; but i guess my point is, why are there no rationalist pre-modern societies? Why does it take thousands and thousands of years for such a thing to come into existence?)
Material circumstances. You need security, leisure and access to great resources to be a scientific scholar. Few pre-modern societies had any of that. The first people to enjoy the material conditions were the privileged elite of early class society. For the rest of humanity, the accumulated knowledge of earlier generations just had to be accepted without question, as dogma. They had the luxury of pondering it and challenging it, which they did with gusto.
>>That is a full explanation for religious belief, its that simple. You may choose to religiously believe otherwise of course. ;-)
>--
>It does beg the question. :)
What question?
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas