Arkouda

This sounds like you agree with me.

The first time something hurt me and I didn’t like it.

I did not say that.

You may want to answer my question "When did you learn that hurting was wrong and who taught you?" again considering you were a baby without definable consciousness.

There are, believe it or not, more things besides empathy that determine human behaviour. Weird, complicated creatures.

You are free to provide examples if you want me to agree with you.

That just means humans akso have an inherent wish to understand and explain things, even when they don’t have the necessary means yet.

Which means that spiritual and religious belief structures would have been required for us to advance to where we are today, which was my entire point, based on your idea of "inherent". Even though again, nothing is "inherent" regarding moral belief.

I agree, which is what I was hoping for. haha

My point is it isn't found in all group species. Our species is obviously, and clearly, different.

That being said, other species have been observed doing what appear to be spiritual practices. These species usually exist in larger groups than other animals.

Take Elephants as an example. They stop in the spots that their matriarchs died in and pay tribute. They have been seen bowing at specific trees and landmarks along their migration paths. Is it elephant Religion? I don't know because I am not an Elephant. But it looks spiritual to me.

Ants are also interesting in this conversation, as they seem to operate in a "God king" like society. Power is obviously centralized, they have agriculture, territory and borders, take slaves and have wars over resources. I have seen studies on observations on strange behavior some ants have exhibited that seem "cultural" or "spiritual" in nature.

Then look at wolves. Family units, small packs, exhibit high levels of intelligence but don't seem to exhibit "spiritual" behaviors.

Considering our example as the biggest species on the planet currently, and the fact that spirituality and Religion have always been a part of our societies, it seems to me that some idea of "bigger than me" is required to truly unify a species and allow for larger groups.

I believe we are now at the point where both Religion and Spirituality have become redundant because the debates have been had, the evidence is in, and all of it suggests we made that shit up. It served its purpose, and now we need to move on.

We can still learn from all of that debate and history though. A lot of "Answered questions" are interesting to ponder in their own right.

If a unified morality is required for our species to coexist in ever larger groups, and evidence of spiritual belief has been found in every documented group of Humans, why wouldn't it be safe to assume that spirituality was a requirement for our species to move beyond small family units?

Yes I am sure the first time you were hurt as a baby, before conscious thought even kicked in, you suddenly knew what was "morally correct".

There is no such thing as "inherent" traits. If that were true no human would hurt another human because we all would be coded not to do that and wouldn't need someone to tell you what is wrong and right.

If all evidence suggests that groups of humans have all had a spiritual belief structure I think it is safe to assume that as a requirement for a consistent, and easy to communicate "moral code".

I don't think that and never said that.

I would urge you to look at the fact that every documented human group we have evidence from had a spiritual belief structure, and that it is safe to assume that a spiritual belief system was required for our species to form larger groups and bigger populations.

This does not argue the existence of God, just our species constant and persistent belief that something supernatural is behind that shit. Which also happens to be the driver of early scientific study.

If you assumed I was Religious based on my post I also urge you to check your bigotry.

I agree.