I'll today be starting a new series on evolution.  The foci will include: Religion, a spiritual matter. Universe, probably next Sunday, for this too has spiritual implications. Humanity, same. Fire. Artificial Intelligence. There could be other topics. I've long thought about how religion first got started, and in my mind, how it came to be was that the equivalent of a cavemen/cavewomen community usually had some sort of leader.   How could this person maintain control?   One way was to have his subjects police themselves, so created was a supreme being who watched over you all the time.   These societies were provided an advantage that favored their dominance for survival.   I've also long felt that religion led to larger communities, and might have been essential for Humanity to arrive at where we are earlier than without. Of course, there is strong sentiment for God being the originator of religion.  I asked Google AI, how old i...

From the  New York Times :    The USA has 63% Christians, a decline of 15% in 18 years: However, people have stopped leaving churches en masse, according to   a new study released   by Pew Research. Further from the  Pew Research Center : 22%  of Americans are categorized as   spiritual but not religious (SBNR)  because they say they think of themselves as spiritual or they consider spirituality very important in their lives, but they neither think of themselves as religious nor say religion is very important in their lives. 58%  of Americans fall into an overall or   “NET” Religious   category because they say they think of themselves as religious or they consider religion very important in their lives. This group can be subdivided into U.S. adults who are   both religious and spiritual   (48%) and those who are   religious but not spiritual   (10%) 21%  of Americans are categorized as   neit...