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Quite possibly, though that begets one more question: Why are certain religions much more successful than others? @herbig >Certain religions are more success

by FD3SA 13y ago

Quite possibly, though that begets one more question: Why are certain religions much more successful than others? @herbig >Certain religions are more successful than others for the same reason that other organisms are more successful: they adapt more quickly to their environment. Precisely! @lutusp Absolutely. But we have to remember that religious behaviors act through humans. As such, they become just like any other behavior which is selected by evolution through natural selection at the genetic level. Am I correct in assuming that you were thinking of bees and ants, which display behaviors which may not be individually adaptive, but genetically so? If that's the case, you may find this paper [1] interesting. 1. http://www.fasebj.org/content/24/5/1301.long http://www.fasebj.org/content/24/5/1301.long @pjscott Perfect, now let's look at every single one of these factors through the eyes of an evolutionary biologist. You will find that almost each one has a direct analogue in evolution, and the behaviors become indistinguishable from those seen across a wide variety of species. They are just much more nuanced versions of the same tactics employed by every living creature.

lutusp 13y ago
> Why are certain religions much more successful than others? Evolution. I know this sounds like a punch line for a joke, but consider that a religion's doctrinal choices represent natural selection -- some choices are more effective than others, and a dominant religion in a world of competing religions equals a dominant species in a world of competing species -- the same rules apply. And what are the successful species traits? One, a reverence for authority, a time-tested way to attract and hold people who cannot think for themselves. Two, a prohibition against having sex without the intent to breed more miniature believers, a prohibition that the Catholics have raised to an art form. Three, a prohibition against independent thought or constructive criticism, in which the masses are described as a flock of sheep, and they eat it up. The great irony is that many religions (not all by any means), while very clearly exploiting the strategy of evolution by natural selection to grow their submissive flocks, reject the very idea of evolution, describe it as an evil idea.
pjscott 13y ago
Looking at the most successful religions, a few candidates spring to mind: * Proselytism: if you don't go looking for converts, you probably won't get them. In particular, a lot of religions are inextricably linked with ethnicities; they tend to stay small. * Syncretism: your religion can get a lot of followers if it co-opts existing beliefs, and doesn't try to immediately displace them. For example, look at how Taoism fits in neatly with a lot of folk religion that predates its arrival in the area. Similar examples can be found for most (all?) major religions. * Political fortune. Catholicism, for example, happened to spread through the world alongside European colonialism, especially by Spain. * Luck. There are an awful lot of dead religions that used to be pretty successful. There are probably others, but those are the most obvious ones.

by FD3SA 13y ago

lutusp 13y ago

> Why are certain religions much more successful than others? Evolution. I know this sounds like a punch line for a joke, but consider that a religion's doctrinal choices represent natural selection -- some choices are more effective than others, and a dominant religion in a world of competing religions equals a dominant species in a world of competing species -- the same rules apply. And what are the successful species traits? One, a reverence for authority, a time-tested way to attract and hold people who cannot think for themselves. Two, a prohibition against having sex without the intent to breed more miniature believers, a prohibition that the Catholics have raised to an art form. Three, a prohibition against independent thought or constructive criticism, in which the masses are described as a flock of sheep, and they eat it up. The great irony is that many religions (not all by any means), while very clearly exploiting the strategy of evolution by natural selection to grow their submissive flocks, reject the very idea of evolution, describe it as an evil idea.

pjscott 13y ago

Looking at the most successful religions, a few candidates spring to mind: * Proselytism: if you don't go looking for converts, you probably won't get them. In particular, a lot of religions are inextricably linked with ethnicities; they tend to stay small. * Syncretism: your religion can get a lot of followers if it co-opts existing beliefs, and doesn't try to immediately displace them. For example, look at how Taoism fits in neatly with a lot of folk religion that predates its arrival in the area. Similar examples can be found for most (all?) major religions. * Political fortune. Catholicism, for example, happened to spread through the world alongside European colonialism, especially by Spain. * Luck. There are an awful lot of dead religions that used to be pretty successful. There are probably others, but those are the most obvious ones.