Religions are used by humans to cope with problems that we are not
programmed to deal with in our DNA.

The first evidence of religion appears in the fossil record when Man
entered
into a domestic relationship with dogs.  Perhaps this new relationship
changed the way Man hunted and the new totemic religions helped him to
remember through ritual how to hunt the new prey species available for
the
first time.  They might also guide him in new migration patterns to
follow
the herds.  Bruce Chatwin's novel "The Song Lines" outlines just such
a
religion.

Modern religions have evolved to answer new sets of problems that came
with
further domestications of both plants and animals as well as
technological
changes this new "civilizied" system made necessary.  Here in Dallas
we have
as many churches as stoplights according to a recent magazine article.
We
probally have as many different denominations of Christians as there
are
Hindu Gods.

Everyone has different problems and everyone has different ways of
coping
with them.  We also have thousands of councelors, social workers,
psycologists and escort services but their buildings aren't as grand.

Ray Audette
Author "NeanderThin"
http://www.neanderthin.com