Beware Evolutionary ‘Just-so’ Stories About Religious Belief
Today's entry was written by Denis Alexander. Please note the
views expressed here are those of the author, not necessarily of
The BioLogos Foundation. You can read more about what BioLogos
believes here. This post first appeared in The Guardian. As an
evolutionary biologist I am fascinated by the emergence of that
suite of cognitive abilities that make us so distinctive from
other living species. There are, however, risks in making up
evolutionary "just-so" stories to explain the origins of complex
human beliefs, such as religious ones. For we have virtually no
firm knowledge of the details of religious beliefs prior to the
invention of writing about 5,000 years ago. Some general (and
plausible) inferences can be made based on burial customs, cave
paintings, and the like, going back a few tens of thousands of
years, but before that the discussion becomes increasingly
speculative. Writing here this week, the psychologist Jesse
Bering makes up a wond