Reply #39: Tribal groups enforce behavior without religion.

[immoderate]

You could take the opposite view on the same evidence. When civilization existed in tribal sized groups, it was not necessary to invoke religion to moderate behaviors. Direct social pressures would be all that is necessary in groups that number in the hundreds.

In tribal groups, religion had the purpose of explaining origins and natural events, not enforcing rules of behavior. No rules of civility applied when encountering other tribes. This is clear from the Old Testament. God has no problem with the Hebrews wiping out other tribes.

Religion as a social moderator, comes into its own when larger groups, where citizens don't actually know each other, need to be socialized.

Note that gangs don't shoot their own members, but members of other gangs. Without religion, as you point out, they still have their own internal code. Killing members of rival gangs is absolutely compatible with scripture.

--IMM