How religion came into existence

Thousands of years ago when primitive man’s mind started thinking about various kinds of natural phenomena in this world, he found many wonderful experiences. When certain natural forces or phenomena were not in his favor he had to suffer.  He witnessed disasters and terrible incidents which created fear, suspicion, insecurity, tension and suffering.  Then he started thinking how to find a solution and rid his life of these unfavorable conditions.

But he knew that these things were beyond his comprehension. He therefore imagined there must be some sort of invisible powers, supernatural forces or persons behind all these things. He started to pray and worship these imagined powers. He began to make animal sacrifices in order to appease the wrathful forces. He gave thanks when certain phenomena appeared in his favor, assuming they were acts of gods.

The aim, then, of these practices was to gain protection and be blessed with a life of prosperity and little difficulty. This is how religious belief and practice got started and why primitive man started to pray.  As this early concept of religion began to develop, other certain important practices were also incorporated, such as religious rites and rituals, ceremonies and festivals. These evolved naturally according to the particular customs, traditions and ways of life prevalent in the respective regions and countries.

The foundation of religion was thus laid down by man as a means to assure his self-preservation in response to his fundamental fear, insecurity and misunderstanding of the natural phenomena of life. It is human fear then which served as the building blocks of religion. These served not only as the foundation of all religions, but as the basic materials like bricks, stone, sand and cement
needed for erecting the building.

It was with the introduction of faith, however, which allowed for the building called religion to be completed. Faith together with the introduction of offerings, prayers, vows, penalties, morals and ethics - all in the name of god. There was also the promise of a place of eternal peace called paradise in order to control mankind.