On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 15:55:06 +0000 (UTC), porterboy76{at}yahoo.com
(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. But I'm curious as to how belief in God would serve
>humanity from an evolutionary point of view. 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 :-)... Anyway,
>I'm neither a religious freak nor a scientist, just curious... PB

This is more in the line of cultural evolution, not biological.  So it
doesn't really have to have value in terms of reproductive fitness.

Humans do have a burning curiosity to explore and understand the world
around us and to have answers to how, why, whence type of questions.
This drive does have obvious evolutionary benefits: the knowledge
gained allows us to evaluate the particular situation we find
ourselves in and to formulate plans of action to deal with it.  The
"big" questions about origins, about birth and death, about good and
evil, about the source of the enormously powerful forces of nature,
and so forth do not have ready explanations.  Still humans demand
answers.
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