DAY 360
CHALLENGE
“If religion has benefits for individuals and groups, why can’t we say that evolution has favored the development of religion, even though it has no bearing on reality.”
DEFENSE
Religion does have benefits (see Day 283), but this doesn’t lead to the conclusion that religious beliefs are false.
If it were possible to dismiss a belief as having no bearing on reality simply because adopting it has benefits from an evolutionary point of view (i.e., promoting the survival and reproduction of those who hold it), then we would have to dismiss a vast number of beliefs. For example, the belief that arsenic in significant quantities is poisonous would be dismissed, because this belief is beneficial for survival. We would also dismiss the belief that children should be cared for, because that is beneficial for reproduction.
In fact, if we were to dismiss all beliefs that have evolutionary benefit then the result would be an impoverished, dysfunctional belief system that would positively gravely hinder human survival and reproduction. This is because our cognitive faculties, and the beliefs that flow from them, are adapted to allow our survival and reproduction.
This does not mean that every belief we have is adaptive or that it is true. People obviously have maladapted and untrue beliefs. How- ever, we can’t simply dismiss the truth of a belief because it is adaptive. Therefore, if we’re open to the truth of other adaptive beliefs, we should be open to the truth of religious beliefs. If we’re open to arguments that arsenic is poisonous or that children should be cared for, we should be open to arguments that God exists.
To dismiss religious beliefs, you would need to do more than point to their adaptive nature. You would need to show why they, unlike other adaptive beliefs, have no relationship to reality. This would be difficult in the absence of conclusive proof that God does not exist or that there is no afterlife. In the absence of such proof, the believer would be entitled to hold that religious beliefs should be given the same consideration as other adaptive beliefs.
Further, he would be entitled to hold, from his perspective, that the evolutionary process that gave us our cognitive faculties was superintend- ed by divine providence precisely so that we could come to know God.