Reply #8: Concepts God/ objective morality “prevented dysfunction in human behaviour”? Yes.

[ironbark]

Through their EVOLUTION.

Time was when the Gods condoned and advocated the rape of ‘the others’ wives, children, land, recourses, language, culture...and the “universal objective morality”/ “sense of personal self” was dependent on doing so or heroically dying sword in hand in the attempt.

“Dysfunction” then was the inability to do so.

One need go back at least as far as the Old Testament to see its remnant but prior to that it was “universal objective morality” (Contemporary NeoCon cosmology being the notable exception ;-)

The very notion of “dysfunction in human behaviour” has changed, evolved, inverted over time and the role of religion cannot be taken out of the historical equasion.