""Atheist anthropologists probably would say that God (or God(s)) were created by early man to help deal with tragedies like Newtown.""

Amusingly, Jack, who doesn't believe in lumping people together, always knows what Atheists will probably think, or say.

Then he gets it entirely wrong, in spite of the fact that there are plenty of parallels to indicate how religion develops in primitive societies.

Primitive man was very aware of the interaction between himself and predators, and needed no such "explanations" for that kind of event.

Nineteenth century explorers and colonists in Africa have written reams of material on how the native populations deified those forces of nature which were beyond their understanding, just as the Ancient Greeks and Romans deified the same things.

Thunder and lightning, winds, waves, volcanoes, earthquakes and meteor showers.

Personality cult religions gradually displaced these primitive ideas and as science explained the various phenomena, the superstitions died out, all but the ones based on personalities, and they have devoted their energies largely to fighting amongst themselves ever since.

Don T.