Is Religion Inevitable?

Since little conclusive evidence exists to support the claims of a “God Gene” as being biological, we must ask why cultures around the world have independently developed forms of religion. Does religion serve a purpose?  If so, what is it and why do we need it? Is religion inevitable? These are the questions we hope to explore in our post, which will deepen our understanding of religion, evolution and the connections between the two.

To answer these questions, we look to Daniel Dennett, author of Breaking the Spell.  In his novel, he asks the questions “Is religion good for you? Should it be the basis for morality?...Where does our devotion to God come from? What was the psychological and cultural soil in which religion first took root?...Is it the product of blind evolutionary instinct or rational choice?  Do those who believe in God have good reason for doing so?”  The answers to these questions paint a picture of the inevitability of religion as well as the purpose religion has served in the daily lives of humans, past, present, and future.  So, what is the purpose of religion?

Daniel Dennett proposes three purposes for religion: to comfort us in our suffering and allay our fear of death; to explain things we can’t otherwise explain; and to encourage group cooperation in the face of trials and enemies (102). Religion provides us with answers to our questions about our existence and purpose, reveals our true nature, gives us a way to navigate the world, and creates large human networks.

Pascal Boyer,  lists more than half a dozen distinct cognitive systems that feed effects into our recipe for religion – “an agent detector, memory manager, cheater detector, moral-intuition-generator, sweet tooth for stories and story telling, various alarm systems.” To this list Dennett adds intentional stance, “when an animal treats something as an agent, with beliefs and desires (with knowledge and goals)”. Dennet claims that, any mind with this particular set of thinking tools and biases is bound to harbor something like a religion sooner or later (110).

Religion is inevitable.  As humans evolved we developed an urge to understand and explain the world and its processes. “The belief in unseen or spiritual agencies seems to be almost universal... as soon as the important faculties of the imagination, wonder and curiosity, together with some power of reasoning, had become partially developed, man would have naturally craved to understand what was passing around him, and have vaguely speculated on his own existence.” (Darwin 1886, p. 65) (p124).

Little more than a social construction, religion continues to exist for a variety of reasons. Many groups and cultures find reassurance with the answers religion provides. Unable to explain death using worldly reasoning, individuals look to religion to better understand their own purpose in life. Additionally, systems of belief have established moral foundations that provide a level of consensus between groups of people. Inevitably, religion will always prevail as it continues to maintain a sense of community and understanding.  Religion is inevitable because it is crucial in our acceptance of our world.