Religion

Just been wondering about something, and it is about Religion. Are there any cultures that never had a Religion, or that didn't follow any god(s)?

Yeah I kinda figured it would be unlikely, but I didn't know, and wanted to find out. It would nice to see how a cultire would turn out if it didn't have any 'extra-natural spiritual dimension'.

Albanian people are very agnostic, or anyway, far from religious, even though most of them are not conscious about this

There are I believe several cultures still in existence,either in the amazon basin or the Pacific rim that, had only a loose ancestor based faith, if one could call it that, but no belief in an all powerful, or even spiritual entity, or entities. My anthro. isn't all that good but I do remember reading several essays regarding them.

Originally posted by louanna Do surnames give an indication if Albanians are Muslim or Christian?

Originally posted by Stark Just been wondering about something, and it is about Religion. Are there any cultures that never had a Religion, or that didn't follow any god(s)?

I don't think there are any that never had supernatural beliefs of some sort, but of course, there are many in which such beliefs were not taken so seriously and sometimes not even held at all by the majority.

Also, there are many cultures whose supernatural beliefs are difficult to reconcile with the notion of a "god". Many varieties of animism imbue all objects with a spirit or personality, but they are generally on a level with the spirit or personality that inhabits human beings - they have a physical body, they are destructible, and so forth. Go a step up the ladder of religious evolution, and some of these beings are elevated to have a "portfolio" of natural phenomena attributed to them, for instance, rain or wind - and, therefore, unlike simple animist spirits they are incorporeal or dwell in an alternate reality. Go a little further and people are offering things so they don't cause a flood or blow their house down. Go a little further and these beings gain a priesthood to accept the offerings, who often campaign to take over the portfolios belonging to other deities, so that one being consolidates power over the wind, the rain, and lightning. Eventually you arrive at monotheism. So, it all depends where along the line you draw the line between a spirit and a god.