Since the earliest times, mankind has been creating gods to deal with unexplained phenomena. To the ancient Egyptians, the mere existence of the sun would have been so amazing that the god, Ra, was created. That allowed Egyptians to relax about the mystery while Ra dutifully climbed up into the sky each day, then climbed down for the god of darkness to have a go. Then next morning, the sky was back to square one.
This sort of attitude has been common throughout history in relation to the weather, the sea, agriculture, and anything that defied human understanding at the time.
Humanity grew smarter as the centuries kicked in, and with this increase in knowledge came the ability to explain more and more of what was going on. Consequently, many early gods lost their relevance and their worship died out.
Nowadays, the discipline of science is so far advanced that we no longer need to invoke the smarts of a god to understand the biology of living creatures and how they came into being. Also, our understanding of the universe and its creation have increased to the point that any remaining mysteries are merely challenges that we are confident of solving.
Do we really need gods at all? Over the last few centuries, there seems to have been a subtle shift, for example in Christianity, towards the worship of a benign deity rather than an authoritative and controlling one. It seems that many people, as they age, are becoming more concerned about their death and it being the absolute end of their existence. Believers are tending to attach importance to the concept of a god who will, at the end, take them to enjoy an afterlife where they will gather with deceased family members and old friends. So, for people with that need, the answer to the question is – yes.
There are others whose beliefs can be used to generate a sort of tribalism that gives them shelter and support to counter fears and to aid in dealing with feelings of marginalism. In some cases, leaders can tap into this to support revolutionary activities. A belief that their god will aid in those areas also answers the earlier question with – yes.
And here is where the question of ‘have we finished creating gods’ returns. The to-and-fro bargaining smacks very much of the attitudes of our time. There are some behaviours (in Christianity, for instance) that were expressly forbidden in the past and yet are today being made quite acceptable, or at least tolerated. In such cases, the wishes and rewards of the gods appear to reflect the dominant attitudes of the day.
Rather than creating new gods, as has been done in the past, it would appear to be no longer necessary, since continuously modifying the existing ones to suit the emerging social needs has been found to work quite well.
