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Your "asshole ant" comment may be wrong. The ants are related, in sacrificing itself the ant does in fact continue some of its genetic information through kin (as a side note, in some species of ants the workers are actually sterile anyway). If the colonies were made up of nothing but "asshole ants", not saying that that is actually a thing but we'll run with it, then none would sacrifice themselves and the colony would run to ruin. If it were made up of nothing but "noble sacrifice ants" the colony would become depleted. So, a balance is needed for the group to survive. This is all hypothetically speaking, of course, see this about altruism and kin selection: http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/150012/.

Especially this one:

>Extrapolation of the expansion of the universe backwards in time using general relativity yields an infinite density and temperature at a finite time in the past.[13] This singularity signals the breakdown of general relativity. How closely we can extrapolate towards the singularity is debated—certainly no closer than the end of the Planck epoch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang#Singularity

>supernatural

>1(Of a manifestation or event) attributed to some force beyond scientific understanding or the laws of nature:

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/supernatural

The "Big Bang" is a "supernatural" event, by definition.

Haha, that is a very interesting question, one that was I think a bit explained below, but you seem to be open minded, which is great! but just like you believe it is bullshit (which it is), your mind is just as open minded about it being real. I quote /u/Ish_the_Stomach

> Helping the subject stay relaxed and open minded to the possibility that the cards have something to say to them.

That said if you're interested, pm and I can send you two books that I've read on these types of subjects called:

Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely

and

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

They are good ebooks and to anwer your question. Humans are wired that way.

I'm inclined to agree with you, and would say that Hitler was at least guilty of multiple counts of attempted genocide (the Jewish and Roma Holocausts).

By that same token though, it could be said that God wasn't a serial killer either, as (according to the Bible) he usually sent angels to do his dirty work.

It reminds me of a line from the movie <em>The Prophecy</em>:

> Did you ever notice how in the Bible, whenever God needed to punish someone, or make an example, or whenever God needed a killing, he sent an angel? Did you ever wonder what a creature like that must be like? A whole existence spent praising your God, but always with one wing dipped in blood? Would you ever really want to see an angel?

No, that is the foundation the church was built on from its inception. St Paul co-opted Greek demi-god values onto the Judaic messianic tradition (which is not in the Gospel as a deity) to assist in the spread to the rest of teh Mediterranean world, and that is about as early as you can go.

Sol Invictus pre-dates Nicaea and it is widely accepted that its forms where blended to retain the loyalty of the troops.

Actually, there is probably not a lot use in pursuing this your basic premise is that you require a mystic understanding of the world and that you are not content with a mundane explanation of how and why certain aspects of 'faiths' came about.

I, personally, find the history and anthropology of religions fascinating, but when you try and prove their validity by only reference their internal justifications for themselves, or why books of a type share tropes, you might as well explore why Narnia and Middle-Earth share similarities, or why the writings of Terry Brooks and David Eddings can be connected to either.

I recommend https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/historical-jesus.html to you as a good survey of the subject

So, you bring up an interesting (and to me, somewhat annoying) point. We’re talking about three different concepts, here.

• The philosophical question of whether we have free will. Is the universe deterministic, which would negate free will? Or is there something we don’t yet understand that is indeterminant that allows for free will? Is the compatibilist view valid, or do we really have libertarian free will?

• The discussion surrounding the influences that might inhibit free will like our genetics, environment, upbringing, mental states, our subconscious mind, etc. I find this argument annoying (not the way you brought it up) because it muddies the water of the above philosophical question. Sometimes a good philosophical discussion will get derailed by someone saying we don’t have free will because of the influences I listed. Yes, we know that. Of course our decision making is affected by our environment. But that not what we mean by free will. (An aside; my book club recently read a great book about how much our subconscious mind shapes our experience of the world. Subliminal by Leonard Mlodinow

• Lastly is the concept of free will give an omniscient, omnipotent, creator deity, as the OP is suggesting. Can we have free will if a god knew every action of every atom in the universe prior to creating it. If this god could create any possible universe, and create the one where I had waffle for breakfast this morning, could I have chosen something else?

The God Virus

From the comments.

"the author uses the metaphor of religion as a virus to explain how religious ideas pass from individual to individual and infiltrate society."

You'll realize why people of religion behave the way they do, even if they don't realize it.

Highly recommended.