Friday, August 17, 2007

Is Religion the Root of All Evil?

Humans do bad things to each other, as do all animals. The "bad" human behavior, for which religion is often blamed, would continue to exist tomorrow if religion ceased to exist tonight, for a simple reason -- genetics.

Our behavior evolves from two sources, genetics and environment. Not being biologists, social scientists tend to concentrate on the environment (conditioning) and the role it plays in human behavior. Thus, the cause and effect relationship of religion and behavior becomes an easy target for them. The problem with that is idea is that it blames the tool for the works of the fool.

Much of our behavior is innate, not learned. Much of the "bad" behavior for which religion is blamed is actually phylogenetically similar to that seen in other animals species. We see similar territoriality, competition for resources, kin selection, aggression, and so on, in most animal species. Natural selection provided Homo sapiens with the same instincts for self/species preservation as other animals. Humans mark their territory by building fences and setting borders for similar reasons that dogs urinate on bushes.

Our "bad" behaviors are simply human expressions of the same preservation instincts found in other species. Pan troglodytes (chimps) do not require religion to make them kill other chimps -- and we don't either. We humans are clever apes. We are even able (and willing) to use our "science" to justify our self-serving behavior. It was not very long ago that many leading scientists throughout the world (including America) firmly believed in eugenics. Why not? It's a proven way to breed better cattle and bananas. Are humans biologically superior to cattle? Of course not. So, what makes humans superior? Our egos? If we're not superior in some way, eugenics is as scientifically logical for our species as it is for hogs.


Granddad

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