Why We Believe in God(s)

1. Religion as a By-product of Evolved Cognitive Mechanisms

Religion utilizes and piggybacks onto everyday social-thought processes, adaptive psychological mechanisms that evolved to help us negotiate our relationships with other people, to detect agency and intent, and to generate a sense of safety.

Cognitive adaptations and religion. Our brains evolved various mechanisms to help us survive in social groups and understand our environment. These same mechanisms, originally designed for other purposes, combine to make us susceptible to religious beliefs. For example, our ability to detect patterns and infer causality, crucial for survival, can lead us to see divine intervention in random events.

By-product, not adaptation. Religion itself is not an evolutionary adaptation, but rather a by-product of other cognitive adaptations. This is similar to how reading and writing are cultural by-products of our visual and language processing abilities. The power of religion stems from its ability to engage multiple cognitive systems simultaneously, creating a compelling and memorable experience.

Key cognitive mechanisms involved:

• Pattern recognition
• Agency detection
• Theory of mind
• Social cognition
• Decoupled cognition

2. The Attachment System and Religious Belief

Think of a two-year-old child reaching out to be picked up and cuddled. He extends his hands above his head and beseeches you. Think now of the Pentecostal worshipper who speaks in tongues. He stretches out his hands above his head, beseeching god in the same "pick-me-up-and-hold-me" gesture.

Longing for a caretaker. The attachment system, crucial for human survival, creates a strong need for a protective figure. This same system makes us susceptible to belief in a caring, omnipotent deity. Religion exploits this innate desire for attachment by offering an ever-present, all-powerful parental figure.

Comfort in belief. Religious belief can provide comfort and security, especially in times of distress or uncertainty. This mirrors the way children seek comfort from their parents. The idea of a loving, protective god resonates deeply with our evolved need for attachment figures.

Ways religion mimics attachment:

• God as a father figure
• Prayer as communication with a caregiver
• Belief in divine protection
• Seeking comfort in religious rituals

3. Decoupled Cognition and Theory of Mind in Religious Thought

We humans have the remarkable ability to create and implement a complex interaction with an unseen other—boss, spouse, friend—in our minds, regardless of time or place, in the past or in the future.

Mental simulation. Decoupled cognition allows us to think about entities and scenarios separate from our immediate experience. This ability, crucial for planning and social interaction, also enables us to conceive of and interact with invisible deities.

Understanding others' minds. Theory of mind, our ability to attribute mental states to others, plays a key role in religious thought. It allows us to imagine the intentions and desires of a god, even though we can't directly observe such a being. This capacity for mental attribution is so ingrained that we readily apply it to non-human entities.

Applications in religious thought:

• Imagining God's will or intentions
• Interpreting events as divine messages
• Believing in unseen spiritual realms
• Attributing human-like qualities to deities

4. Hyperactive Agency Detection and Anthropomorphizing God(s)

Why is it you mistake a shadow for a burglar but never a burglar for a shadow? If you hear a door slam, why do you wonder who did it before you consider the wind as the culprit?

Seeing agents everywhere. Humans have a tendency to detect agency – intentional action by a conscious being – even in ambiguous situations. This hyperactive agency detection device (HADD) was likely adaptive for our ancestors, as it's safer to assume a potential threat than to miss one. However, this same mechanism can lead us to see divine intervention in natural events.

Human-like gods. Our brains are primed to understand and interact with other humans. As a result, when we conceive of supernatural beings, we tend to attribute human-like qualities to them. This anthropomorphizing makes gods more relatable and easier to understand, but it's a clear sign of their man-made nature.

Examples of anthropomorphized divine traits:

• Emotions (anger, love, jealousy)
• Decision-making and planning
• Communication through language
• Physical form (in many religions)

5. Minimally Counterintuitive Worlds and Religious Ideas

If you are told that the big oak tree in the park near your home will do your taxes, wash your laundry, fix your car, and tell you what your future stock portfolio will be, you will not even experiment with belief. However, if you're told that the tree will hear your prayer during a full moon, you may be vulnerable to believing.

Balancing familiar and extraordinary. Religious ideas are often minimally counterintuitive – they violate some of our expectations about the world, but not too many. This makes them attention-grabbing and memorable, while still being conceivable. A god that is omniscient but otherwise human-like is more believable than a god with completely alien attributes.

Cultural transmission. Minimally counterintuitive concepts are more likely to be remembered and passed on to others. This explains why certain religious ideas persist across generations and cultures. They strike the right balance between being familiar enough to understand and unusual enough to be interesting.

Characteristics of minimally counterintuitive religious concepts:

• Mostly conform to natural expectations
• Contain a few violations of intuitive knowledge
• Often involve supernatural abilities added to familiar entities
• Are more easily remembered and transmitted than entirely intuitive or wildly counterintuitive ideas

6. Morality, Cooperation, and Religion

We are born moral animals. We don't need religion to keep us from being immoral monsters, as some faiths would have us believe.

Innate moral capacity. Contrary to some religious claims, humans have an innate sense of morality that predates and transcends religious belief. This evolved capacity for moral behavior likely arose from the need for cooperation in social groups. Research shows that even infants display a basic sense of fairness and empathy.

Religion and social cohesion. While not the source of morality, religion can serve as a powerful tool for promoting cooperation and social cohesion. It provides shared beliefs and rituals that can unite communities and encourage prosocial behavior. However, it can also be used to justify in-group favoritism and out-group hostility.

Components of innate morality:

• Empathy and compassion
• Sense of fairness
• Reciprocity
• Harm avoidance

Ways religion influences moral behavior:

• Codifying moral rules
• Providing supernatural enforcement
• Creating shared group identity
• Offering rituals for atonement and forgiveness

7. The Neurochemistry of Religious Rituals

So powerful was the religion our ancestors discovered that if you look closely, you still see echoes of this first religion in all of the faiths on the planet today.

Brain chemistry and ritual. Religious rituals, particularly those involving music, dance, and altered states of consciousness, can trigger powerful neurochemical responses. These experiences can create feelings of transcendence, unity, and intense emotion, reinforcing religious beliefs and social bonds.

Evolutionary origins. The basic elements of religious rituals – rhythmic movement, synchronized group activities, and altered states of consciousness – likely have deep evolutionary roots. These practices may have originally served to strengthen group cohesion and prepare individuals for cooperative activities like hunting or warfare.

Key neurotransmitters involved in religious experiences:

• Dopamine (reward and motivation)
• Serotonin (mood and social status)
• Oxytocin (bonding and trust)
• Endorphins (pain relief and pleasure)

Common elements of religious rituals:

• Repetitive movements or chants
• Synchronized group activities
• Fasting or other forms of self-denial
• Use of psychoactive substances

8. Science vs. Religion: The Ongoing Conflict

There unquestionably is a conflict between religion and science.

Competing explanations. Science and religion often provide conflicting explanations for natural phenomena and human origins. While religion relies on faith and tradition, science bases its understanding on empirical evidence and testable hypotheses. This fundamental difference in approach leads to ongoing tension between scientific and religious worldviews.

Educational battleground. The conflict between science and religion is particularly evident in debates over education, especially regarding the teaching of evolution. Despite legal victories for science education, there continues to be resistance to teaching evolution in many parts of the world. Understanding the cognitive basis of religious belief can help inform these debates and promote scientific literacy.

Key areas of conflict:

• Origin of the universe
• Evolution vs. creationism
• Age of the Earth
• Nature of consciousness and the soul

Importance of science education:

• Promotes critical thinking
• Provides evidence-based understanding of the world
• Encourages questioning and skepticism
• Fosters technological and medical advances

Last updated: September 30, 2024