There is no denying that religion offers purpose, meaning, comfort and hope to humankind’s existence in this life. However, it also offers things which may be a little less pleasant since they are more rigorous and difficult to practice, such as a sense of shared moral responsibility within a framework of social justice, the self-discipline imposed by rules and regulations, and the notions of sin and punishment when these rules and regulations are not followed. Why would humans take on these aspects of religion, which, in a sense, make their earthly life so much more difficult, without even the assurance of an eternal reward in some cases? This is not offered as a proof of G-d but as a question regarding the challenges of religion.
This gets us into what I referred to in an earlier post as religion’s evolutionary advantages. From an evolutionary standpoint the larger the group that one can cohesively maintain, the greater it’s chances of survival against an outside enemy. If my group is larger than your group, then I’m more likely to prevail in a confrontation. Thus there was probably an evolution in the size of human groups, starting with simple family groups, followed perhaps by tribal groups, and ethnic groups, and cultural groups. Each larger than the previous type, and each having some aspects of commonality within them. As a general rule though, the larger the number that the group can call upon when threatened by an enemy, or in times of adversity, the greater it’s chances of survival.
But in each case there needs to be some system of authority. Some means of settling disputes and setting standards of behavior, or the group tends to fracture. To be maintained, all groups need a source of authority, a means of enforcing that authority, and a code of conduct. In the simplest case this may have been simply communal or patriarchal in nature. But as groups get larger, maintaining authority and stability becomes ever more difficult. Also as the group grows its authority must be able to be projected across larger and larger diversities of subgroups and geographical areas. This tends to limit the size to which groups can efficiently grow. Groups tend to fracture. The trick is to maintain some vestige of unity and authority, in spite of these fractures.
To this end religion holds some unique advantages over all previous types of groups. It can be effective across family, ethnic, cultural, and even national boundaries. It also sets for itself the ultimate source of authority and conduct. One above which no other authority can be invoked, i.e God and His divine revelations. Religious groups may have divisions within their own structure, but when threatened by an outside enemy they tend to rally in defense of the group as a whole. If you hear of Christian churches being attacked in Sudan, your reaction is to want to come to their defense. You don’t question what their denomination is. Thus religion maintains an overarching unity in spite of internal divisions. The Judaic religions specifically, each have their own source for a code of conduct, the Torah, the Bible, and the Quran. And each carries with it the threat of eternal damnation, and ostracization for those who do not adhere to the code. Of course these groups aren’t perfect. They still need a means of projecting the divine authority down here on earth, and they still tend to fracture, but when threatened, they will rally to the defense of the group.
This is the type of thing that I was talking about when I said that religions have evolutionary advantages. This is more than I tend to try to explain on such subjects, but if it makes any sense then I’ve done better than I usually do, and I will welcome any feedback.
