Raised by chimpanzees, what religion would you be?

Originally posted by SeekerofBut bear in mind also, in the case of being raised by chimps/apes, having no outside contact, the one being raised, even with human emotions and thought, inherent to 'human nature', will, over time, lose 'touch' with those things.

Still, even though such a human child would tend to think & accept the chimp-society over the long run, there's still likely to be a time when the human child will realize that he's *different* from the other chimps...

...Heaven only knows what he'll begin to think of after that realization sets in...
Still, the human would tend to wonder *why* he's so different. That's probably the point where his human capacity to think & imagine would try to make some kind of belief as to *why* things are that way.

I think that I would have to say that I would believe in what my heart told me or directed me. Even now I dont believe in the conventional god that others may but I know something is watching over me. A point I would like to make though is that when you remove something from its natural element and place it in strange surroundings a portion of you is going to assimilate to those surroundings just to survive the other portion, your soul if you will will continue to believe that there is a reason for you being in this jungle with a bunch of apes.

Thats a good possibility but I still believe, given the structure of the scenerio given, the child would only consider the 'difference' as being like why one chimp or ape is white or got spots, etc. If being raised means being raised, that child, with no human contact at all, will think and virtually act as they do with no 'thought', per se', of him being any different....he will think it is just part of the 'species', so to speak.

regards
seekerof

If you were raised by Chimps let's just say you were raised by illiterate pre-scientific Humans.

You would be a Polytheist why?

Because your situational mind would not associate things such as "tools" and "trees" together.

A hammer hits the log so therefore they must be the same group.

Because of this situationalism you would no matter what, give the attributes of Nature, (Lightning, wind, fire, trees, people attributes), to different Gods.

Every thing you can think of, would have some "God" driving it.

Until you began to understand a little more, and then you'd refine your religion, and keep refining it based on how you view the world.

Obviously,

Bananatarian!

I know when the kid would realise he was different. When he became a hormone controlled teen. What chimp would do it with him? If he was raised by them, maybe, but wouldn't he go, "D@mn! I need a good looking piece of @$$, not a hairy one. Oooo, look at the @$$ on that hippo!". Eh-hem. EWWW!

Anyways, he probably would have a faith, just not an organized religon. Why? Because, organized religon only a means to control the masses and take their money. But no mass and no money? No organized religon.

I would worship the Bannannnnaaaa!

I think some Posters have seriously "misunderestimated" chimp society.

I think most chimps are heathens (in the sense of their faith, I'm not being derogatory or chimpist). They worship the sun, the moon, the rain, and everything that brings them succour and pleasure. They also understand symbols perfectly well.

I don't enjoy the warlike tendencies thay have, and they can be pretty nasty cornering and tearing apart other monkeys.

They are not that different or less progressed on the evolutionary chain when compared with homo sapiens.

I think that such a person would not have a religion or faith not really. It would more a form of animalism. A form of superstition. Animalism is the most basic form of religion and was the first religion created. There not really any gods more like spirts and energies. It�s created to help you understand and explain the world around you, it�s also a form of science. The evil lion ghost will eat me if I get close, The spirt of the river makes the water rise every rainy season and will eat any one if they get into it. That the type of thing that a chimp boy would think. But the chimp boy probably would not have even this form of belief. Since he is to preoccupied with survival to really even develop animalism.

I'd probably worship the sun.

I think that such a person would not have a religion or faith not really. It would more a form of animalism. A form of superstition. Animalism is the most basic form of religion and was the first religion created. There not really any gods more like spirts and energies. It�s created to help you understand and explain the world around you, it�s also a form of science. The evil lion ghost will eat me if I get close, The spirt of the river makes the water rise every rainy season and will eat any one if they get into it. That the type of thing that a chimp boy would think. But the chimp boy probably would not have even this form of belief. Since he is to preoccupied with survival to really even develop animalism.

I agree with the Masked Avatar. Their worship and fear would be closest to Primitive Witch Craft or Animisim. Beliving in Spirits and dead ancestors Their religion would be survival. Guess maybe we aren't that different

tut tut

Well to answer the deeper context of this thread, and not the superficial, which is "is there a god?"

Yes.

I don't care if you think you're an atheist I'm telling you there is a god...

The problem is we all try to define "it" as something.

I say there is a god with unwaivering scientific knowledge, that no matter what, there is something we will have to CALL god.

Hell one of them is the "god particle" also known as the higgs particle...the theorized if not proven sub-atomic particle that gives mass to objects.

So maybe some religions will be disappointed, and God might just be some "function" of the universe.

But whatever it is it has to be more than us, because we're apart of the system, not beyond it.

In total, I will say God is "infinite" which is why it doesn't matter what "created him", for obvious reasons.

This is an opinion so you know...just a strongly thought out one

Sincerely,
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[Edited on 10-7-2003 by FreeMason]

I hope you don't see the elevation of chimpanzees to having feelings of religion and worship as a superficial concept, FM. They are far more evolved than given credit for.

They would probably see the reduction of God to sub-atomic particles as being superficial.

It is a matter of perspective, isn't it?