"Malcolm"  wrote in message
news:cag10a$25bv$1{at}darwin.ediacara.org...
>
> "porterboy"  wrote
> >
> > Hi, I'm no biologist, so this may be a stupid question.
> > Evolutionary theory put an end to the Adam and Eve
version of
> > the origin of the human species.
> >
> The theory that humans were created out of clay about 6000
years ago is
> definitely disproved. Monogenesis - the theory that all
humans are descended
> from a single couple without interbreeding with outsiders,
is nearly but not
> absolutely disproved.
> >
> > But I'm curious as to how belief in God would serve
humanity
> > from an evolutionary point of view.
> >
> If supernatural forces are real then there might be an
advantage in being
> able to communicate with them. (In the same way, echoes
are real, and humans
> have a very primitive ability to echolocate which we are
hardly aware of.)
> >
> > Given that 90% of the planet believe in God, it seems
that we
> > must have found it beneficial over the millenia...
(ergo, those who
> > didn't believe in God didnt live long enough to
reproduce...
> > probably died of cynicism :-)
> >
> The sociologist Emile Durkheim, writing in 1912, didn't
find a single
> example of a secular society. If you read _Phantoms in the
Brain_, by
> Ramachandran, you will find a description of an area of
the brian which
> produces excessive religious behaviour when it is
over-stimulated by
> epilepsy. Putting two and two together, it seems obvious
that religion isn't
> just a rogue "meme", as Richard Dawkins, the famous
Darwinist and atheist,
> would have it, but is something that has evolved.
>
> Explaining just why anything has evolved is difficult,
because it we can't
> travel back in time, and it is seldom easy to test
hypotheses. Obviously if
> the existence of supernatural beings could be demonstrated
independently
> then the "supernatural forces are real" hypothesis would
become very
> attractive. There is also some evidence that in modern
conditions a religion
> is a force for social advancement. Jews are famous for
gravitating to
> prestigous professions, for example. It is not so clear
that this would
> apply to hunter gatherers.
> There could be more subtle advantages. Certainly Durkheim
found that in
> primitive religions there was no clear distinction between
religious
> symbolism and the identifying totem, or emblem, of the
tribe. Its easy to
> see that anyone who didn't accept the ideology of the
tribe would be at a
> disadvantage, though exactly how religion might have
evolved is still quite
> unclear.
>
> If you are asking "does God exist?" then evolutionary
biologists aren't
> really in a better position to answer this than anyone
else. We know that
> biblical literalism is wrong, but then St Augustine said
as much in the 5th
> century when some Christians rejected Greek philosophy on
scriptural
> grounds, so we are not exactly saying anything new. Human
suffering is
> implict in the process of natural selection, but the
argument from evil
> isn't a new objection to theism either. We don't
understand free will,
> consciousness, or language, the three things that define
our identity as
> humans. You will find both atheist and religious
biologists.

I also was going to mention Ramachandran's work--it's very
intriguing...probably the best evidence for a biological
evolutionary pathway to religion besides the memetic
(cultural) evolution ones mentioned by others here. I have
often wondered how such a thing first started on the
bioevolution road and come to these thoughts:

Certainly within the first primitive tribal groups, the
mystery, and fear of death sparked individual thoughts of
gods, and life after death--heaven and other factors came
later. Probably even in the smallest of family groupings,
religion and the afterlife had a calming effect on the
community---one can speculate that without it, individuals
could go berserk with fear and/or anger on losing a close
relative or friend, harming others and herself perhaps.
Religion and a code of behavior might provide just the
tiniest edge on survivability to make it a worthwhile
characteristic for Darwinian propagation (honed over
millions of years.) Its acceptance and utilization by those
in power would also provide the tribe/society with added
fitness vis a vis those not so doing. Others her have noted
these factors also. The "god spot" road, once taken, would
continue up until today regardless of the truth or falsity
of the theologies in question as long as they continued to
provide this marginal opiate effect on the population.
.....tonyC
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