The biological basis for religion was discussed in the book "Why God Won't Go Away" by Newberg, D'Aquili, and Rause.
Whether or not you accept their thesis either as probably true or as possibly true but needing verification, what is worth considering is that if you believe in evolution, you have to be prepared to accept that there is a biologically useful basis for belief in God; otherwise, it would have either dropped out of society or at least become marginalized centuries, if not millenia, ago. But religious belief persists to the present, just as strong, if not stronger, than it has been in the past. (Its focus has shifted somewhat as society has moved from more centralized to more democratic systems of social organization; the centrality of the Papacy is diminishing as the power of kings diminished, but religion, at least in this country, is re-energizing in a more diffuse set of loosely connected churches, TV preachers, and the like. But that's a discussion for another time.)
Anyhow, clearly there is something in humans that makes has kept religious belief central to the human experience since well before recorded history. Whether it is purely social (nuture), purely biological (nature), or some combination, or a combination of both (my personal belief), its existence and influence cannot be denied. |
