God and Darwin

Recently, some pro-Darwinists have been attacking religious faith because it's not scientific and rational.  But it shouldn’t really matter (to someone who believes in evolution) whether humans are rational or not.  It’s the outcome (and effect) our faith has that matters, and how this aids our survival as a species.  The belief itself is not relevant to scientific debate.

I’m not a religious person (maybe I'm missing that gene), but you don’t have to be religious to see the effect of religion on human cultural evolution.

Where did God come from?  In the last 5,000 years, the human mind evolved to cherish abstractions as being as important as our own survival.  First, we invented abstract things like writing, the wheel, rule of law, and democracy.  These came about because humans started to see abstractions as being more important than self-preservation.  We became obsessed with “the principle of the thing” over practical concerns.  This can be seen most clearly in religious fanatics who blow themselves up “for the cause” or “for an idea”.  That is the raw inclination behind religion and invention and rule of law.

During the time of the Roman empire (2,000 years ago), life was miserable and short for the average person.  Many people began to embrace Christianity, not because it's rational, but because the church promised to support everyone as Christ did, especially the downtrodden and outcasts, who were given a level of care by the church they hadn’t known before.  Even when the early Christians were tortured and thrown to the lions for their beliefs, they bravely and willingly gave their lives for the idea of "God" and His grace.  Eventually, the Roman empire had to convert to Christianity, because they couldn't fight the faithful any longer.

Christianity, then, has a practical effect.  True, it can be open to abuse, because any time you start accepting the words of your leaders on faith (without questioning), they can become corrupt, or launch religious wars.  That’s why the Protestant reformation was so important, to remind people they have a direct path to God.  He can hear your prayers without the need for an intervening church hierarchy (priests, etc).  The Protestant revolution led directly to the humanist idea that every man and woman is an important and sacred individual, the foundation of democracy.

So religion has been very important to the development our modern notions of law, morality, and science and evolution.  Is there a God?  It doesn’t really matter, does it?

Comments

[Craig]

Question: How is the "pack instinct" of religion different than the evolved pack instinct that contributes to social support in canines? Dogs don't appear to have religion, yet they do use groups to support their societies, and hence, their survival.

Since we have many genes and groups of genes in common with canids, (and plenty of other well known gregarious mammals) we should be careful with definitions that include words like "religion" and how those might be defined or applied.

[Topher]

I concur with Black Sun, the role of religion was a role that helped people deal, in today's evolution of the human mind and human development there is no place for it in the daily lives of modern man.

[BlackSun]

I'm not so relaxed about the role religion has played in human history. There are plenty of interim 'beliefs' that may have aided human progress. And these are not limited to the religious. I include in this category things like Newtonian mechanics, which have now been superseded by relativity, which will probably be eventually replaced by some other more accurate "theory of everything."

But the difference between interim religious beliefs such as Protestantism and interim scientific principles, is that the principles, once transcended, become universally recognized as outmoded and incomplete. Every time a religion bifurcates, the original religion continues unabated, since it has no inherent tie to reality. So we see today the Catholic church is just about as strong as it was at the time of the reformation.

Plenty of scholars recognize that religion had an important role in human social development, and it may have contributed to our human moral codes (this is debatable, human morality might well predate religion). But fewer understand the price we've paid for that, and what a monumental task it will be to ultimately root out religion's insidious and destructive legacy.