> [!infobox] <s class="aside-in"><em>mentioned in 11 evergreens, 1 source</em></s> #### [[What is the origin of religion]] This includes:: [[How religions are formed]], but focuses more on the underlying mechanisms for [[religion]] rather than their anthropological development. Prior to [[Emile Durkheim]] [[Animism]] and [[Naturism]] where the foremost theories of the origin of religion. Durkheim's main argument was that these theories were not adaptive enough to be a result of:: [[Humans are a product of evolution]] Durkheim states that broadly [[religious belief]] itself is not adaptive due to the way it misrepresents the world but that [[Religion creates social order through group membership and ritual]]. This separates the origin of religion from the origin of [[belief]]. This distinction is important in modern times as religious people often associate lack of [[religious belief]] as [[nihilism]], but [[belief]] in atheists can be just as strong. ^[[[Atheists don't lack belief they lack religious belief]]] In [[Darwin's Cathedral by David Sloan Wilson]], [[religion]] is discussed through the lense of [[Evolution]], and Wilson lays out these explanations for religion. Religion as adaptive: - A group-level adaptation [[Religion creates social order through group membership and ritual]] - An individual level adaptation [[Religion as a rational bid for supernatural reward]] - A cultural parasite that takes advantage of humans [[Evangelicalism has commodified faith for profit]] Religion as non-adaptive - as a [[spandrel]] of [[Belief can motivate adaptation]] - Religious belief based of observation such as [[Animism]] and [[Naturism]] that is no longer adaptive in a modern environment. - They viewed the complexity of the world and assumed their must be a designing agent. They weren't wrong: [[Natural selection is a designing agent]] The origin of religion must be both psychological and cultural. We need to have a reason to want to believe, and a reason to convince other's that they should believe. > [!qoute]- > ![[10_Sources/books - Darwin's Cathedral#^292537214]] - [[Social control promotes highly altruistic behavior within groups]] - [[Religion promotes high social control]] ### <hr class="footnote"/> **Status**:: #EVER/SPROUT *edited 7:35 AM - July 08, 2022* **Topics**:: [[religion]], [[belief]], [[human behavior]] > ![[10_Sources/books - Darwin's Cathedral#^295490295]] > ![[10_Sources/books - Darwin's Cathedral#^306962113]]