Today I gave my population PowerPoint presentation to the Humanist Class at the Atlanta Unitarian Universalist Church. During my visit to the church, I met a really fascinating Italian philosopher. He is 81-years-old and has degrees in philosophy, theology, and mathematics.
One of the things he told me has stuck in my mind all day. He said religion originates from ancient days when myths were used to unite clans. This allowed clans to develop social order and military power so they could take over other groups. And for what purpose? Female capture. The idea was to steal your opponent's women (I'm guessing they just killed the males).
He said there are examples of female capture in the Old Testament, where God ordered the Israelites to take over another group and kill everyone except the virgins, which were to be brought back and made to carry little soldier babies.
The point he was trying to make is that religion served a specific purpose in our evolutionary history, and that now, perhaps, it has outlived its usefulness.
I have heard this theory before as an explanation to what makes some people so religious. Simply put, religious people beat out other groups in the natural selection process because religion provided the organization, order, motivation, etc.. that ultimately led to a military advantage. Thus, those ancient people who were less religious were eliminated through natural selection.
Well, this idea does help me to understand modern religious behavior. The reason why we have so many religious folks in the world is because THEIR RELIGION GAVE THEM AN EVOLUTIONARY ADVANTAGE.
That's all for tonight. The Goose is tired and is signing out.
We live on a blue marble flying through space. I'm surprised at how many people forget that. Our species and ecosystem are fragile, yet we are systematically destroying it instead of protecting it. This blog is dedicated to environmentalism and sustainability
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