Gimme that Olde Time Religion . . .

Hoo boy—a discussion of religion. I had better watch out—I have a history of getting my head handed to me when I bring this up.
So it is with strong trepidaceous feelings that I mention that I have just finished another book (one of Peter B.’s picks) called Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought by Pascal Boyer. A very dense but thorough argument for all of our spiritual ideas, notions, feeling, etc. having their origin in brain systems, common to all humans, that evolved to promote social adhesion, cooperation, accurate reading of another human’s emotions, etc. For instance, because we have evolved brain systems to be hypervigilant about possible predators, we are tuned to instantly pay attention to a sudden movement in a tree. Because there is an evolutionary advantage to “overdetection” (false positives carry little cost, false negatives may be fatal) we tend to think such sudden movements are caused by conscious agents rather than the wind. By the time we see that the tree contains no leopard or neighboring tribesman, we have already ascribed an agency to the motion and, if the wind isn’t blowing, will tend to file it under the “supernatural”. Boyer goes on in some detail about gods as predators—they have a lot in common. We tend to be fearful of both and project a complete awareness of our thoughts to both. Then he analyzes more modern organized religions with their priesthoods--systems of spiritual belief when some people in the culture learn to systematize those beliefs and write them down, in the process becoming specialists who then claim that only they can interpret the holy writings. Also his discussion of fundamentalism is right on target: the only way to make sense of the passion and violence that members of fundamentalist religious groups exhibit is to see their behavior as caused by the threat of un-punished defection from the group. Humans evolved needing tightly cohesive group structures and if it is possible to leave the group without paying a heavy price the group cannot exist.

The author is an anthropologist who has worked extensively with African tribes having a system of ancestor worship that believes in dead ancestors and spirits being everywhere, constantly needing propiation, sacrifices, etc. in order to avoid misfortune. He has the patience and the background to delve into the problem of where we get so many “religious” ideas and why all human religions have their basic structure in common. With a deep understanding of this sort of belief system, it is much easier to tackle the problem of where religious thought comes from by looking at the unorganized belief systems humans have evolved than if he started with modern organized literate religions. But he doesn't stop with the simpler beliefs; he thoroughly traces the brain structures and instincts causing religion all the way from primitive tribes to the Vatican.

I find Evolutionary Psychology to be a very pertinent and interesting field that gives us new ways to figure out why we are what we are by looking at where we came from. Whether you are a fervent True Believer who clings to your system and who doesn’t like religion’s trees being shaken or are a scientist who firmly believes the universe to be just a big pachinko machine, this book will make you think about why you believe what you believe --Mr. Scientist’s beliefs can be construed to be just as much a result of evolved “religious” brain structures as Mr. Jihadi's.

On another tangent, while reading this book I couldn’t help reflecting how lucky we are to have Science to offer an alternative explanation, even if we secretly hold some cherished spiritual beliefs close to our heart. Imagine what it would be like to be born into and live with a system of beliefs where every rock, every tree, was a ghost or spirit which might or might not be angry with you at any time. Very stressful. I am not saying there is anything wrong or bad about African animistic ancestor worship, but I guess I really appreciate being in a culture where we have had some exposure to modern scientific interpretations of the world and can therefore at times, if we feel overstressed by too many gods and spirits, retreat a ways into an ivory tower and just be agnostic for a time. I do like the approach of North American native belief systems where everything is a being, alive in some sense, part of the world and therefore to be respected. This way of thinking leads to a respect for Nature and if all Americans felt this way there would be fewer strip mines. But I really take issue with those who reflexively reject anything and everything they can call “science”—in other words any explanation of the universe that conflicts with the beliefs they have inherited. You are sure missing a lot if you insist that all knowledge is contained in your Bible or your Koran. Science really has no judgement to make about your belief systems, go ahead and believe them. But to reject scientific explanations is also to reject a great deal of the wonder in what we are finding this universe to be. Pascal Boyer, in examining systems of our human mind that account for religion in all humans deliberately never asks any “big” questions like “Why” or “How”; his book is not about why we feel something has to account for the Big Bang, but rather about why we feel that the Something has a face like a human and thinks like we do about things like Good and Evil.

No matter what your personal belief system might be, read the book, it will start you thinking.