As the Holiday season rolls around I cant help but recall the first time I discovered that Santa-Clause doesn’t exist. It was Christmas morning, and I was unwrapping my brand new Stretch-Armstrong doll.
"Just what I always wanted!” I screamed, as tears of joy came streaming down my face. Hold on a second… "What’s this? A price-tag?” I thought, "Silly elves! Children don’t pay for Stretch-Armstrongs, Santa gives them for free… OH NO!”
There I was, only 17 years old when I came face-to-face with the cold and bitter truth that elves were selfish creatures, occasionally charging Santa-Clause for high-quality goods and services.
I soon refuted this theory as well, and settled on the idea that neither Santa, nor elves actually existed. It wasn’t long before I realized that there was no hard evidence for God’s existence either, which called me to question why faith-based concepts like religion have not only survived but flourished throughout human history. Many human evolutionary biologist think that religion is common despite its provability because of it’ is evolutionary benefit, because it helps us to survive and reproduce. Think of religion as a group of ideas that is passed down from generation to generation much in the same way that genes are vertically inherited. In this way, religion is a group of memes that, just like genes, can either be beneficial or disruptive to the survival of humans, and if beneficial, is passed down to the successor generation to aid in their survival as well. Here are a few of my thoughts on why religion could be an evolutionarily beneficial group of memes.
- Divinity and Godliness are often associated with perfection--In medieval Jewish theology God’s attributes (e.g. Wisdom, Power, Mercy, Justice). Representations of Gods are often anthropomorphic which can spur a vision of the divine human that the individual can model himself after. The result is an individual who, because he strives to perfect himself and come closer to God, pushes his personal limits. Such divinely inspired ambition at the individual level will increase productivity and fitness of the society as a whole.
- Anthropomorphism reinforces the idea that "man is the most perfect, next to god.” God created man in his form, man has the same form as god, therefore man is closest of animals to God. This drives the Homo sapiens superiority complex to allow for more degradation and destruction of the environment (competing genes) in the name of god (who favors our genes).
- Religion becomes a distinct advantage when people believe that they are carrying out the will of God. This can create a strong (and perhaps false) sense of righteousness with regards to the goals of that particular society. There are many examples of religiously sanctioned military campaigns that resulted in the genocide of other peoples and expansion into their lands. The result is that individuals of one culture are slaughtered and replaced by another that praises religious conquest. The Christian crusades and American expansion "manifest destiny” are good examples of this phenomenon.
- Religion often starts with creation myths. These resolve fundamental questions about our existence that would otherwise go unsolved by the inadequate scientific progress of early humans. Acceptance of creation myths allowed early human societies to put the majority of mental effort into productivity and chores rather than pondering the unsolvable.
- Religion creates common ground among individuals within a given society and strengthens societal bonds through ritual practice and group worship. The result is a constructive synergy that results in a net gain of productivity for the society in which those individuals live. A more productive society means the ability to support more offspring. This is an evolutionary bonus.
- Religion teaches obedience, which is good for establishing a lower class and social hierarch. Without organizations that have leaders, society runs less efficiently. Religion reinforces ideas of divine right, and allows the lower class to feel comfortable being ruled, which results in a more complacent, less rebellious societal structure.