Has Religious Faith Influenced Human Evolution?

So far, we have seen that certain features of the Homo sapiens brain and certain psychological traits—traits that were necessary for cognitive development, the formation of social bonds, survival, mate selection, and so on—appear to have provided a platform upon which religious faith could take hold. In other words, up to this point in the book, it appears that human evolution produced important traits that helped make our social lives more cohesive and effective and improved our chances of survival and successful reproduction. Those who possessed these traits had a greater chance than those who lacked them of surviving, prevailing over competitors and nature, and gaining greater access to limited resources. At first glance, religious faith seems to have emerged as a by-product that attached itself to these vital psychological traits. In some cases, it appears to interfere with the cognitive system of Homo sapiens, preventing individuals from distinguishing correctly between what is true and false, while enabling some members of society to dominate and exploit others.

At least when we look at individuals, this seems to be the case. A person who develops religious faith does not appear to become better at understanding the surrounding world than someone without such faith. Rather, religious belief seems to introduce additional biases into the interpretation of events, increasing the likelihood of errors in knowledge and understanding of the environment and other people. A person may even lose his life unnecessarily because of such errors, reducing his chances of reproducing and passing on his genes compared with someone who does not hold religious beliefs.

If so, why have religious people not gradually disappeared? Why have those who seek truth and are free from the biases produced by religious faith not increased in number and eventually outnumbered believers? If seeing reality accurately and possessing justified knowledge that corresponds to reality are more advantageous for our survival and reproduction than believing myths and accepting superstitions, why have thousands of years of genetic mutation and natural selection not gradually made us more skeptical, inquisitive, and truth-seeking—so that, if not in childhood, then at least after puberty, we would begin to challenge the first stories instilled in us and prefer questioning and the search for truth to the intoxicating comfort of religious narratives? Could religious faith itself have somehow increased our chances of survival and reproduction?

Let us now look into our history and see whether we can find an answer.