Origins of Religion.
How it originated and evolved over time.
Religion is a set of beliefs that tries to explain the nature and purpose of the universe. Associated with it are certain rituals and moral codes. More often than not, it involves worshiping a supernatural power or gods that control the world.
The world view of a person or group is how they perceive reality and the world or cosmos. Religion reflects one’s world view and, in turn, is influenced by the world view of society. As we shall see later, the social and political system in existence when world religions originated had a significant influence on emergent belief systems.
Culture, as a concept, is difficult to describe. A possible definition is the shared patterns of behavior acquired by individual members of the group. It consists of different aspects like technology used in toolmaking, acceptable conduct, customs, language, and beliefs. The majority of individuals, especially in smaller groups, share the same cultural norms. Religion is only one aspect of culture.
The species Homo sapiens has been around for at least 200 000 years. Currently, chimpanzees are our closest relatives, biologically. Chimpanzees isolated geographically by a boundary like a river may use resources differently from a group on the other side of the border. One group may catch termites by sticking a piece of grass into a hole in an anthill while the other does not. Acquired behavior between these groups of primates is different. These behavior patterns, transferred to young members of the tribe, constitute a primitive form of culture.
Religion must have had a survival advantage for it to develop in almost all cultures in the world. It is obvious that specific behavior patterns can help a group of people to survive. If, for example, a society were to sacrifice all newborn babies to a deity, their culture will exist for one generation only. On the other hand, if a tribe relies on cooperation, it will successfully hunt larger animals. The added supply of food contributes to the continued existence of the group. This concept is named cultural selection and is similar to the idea of natural selection in biology.
Till around 12 000 years ago, humans lived in small bands as hunter-gatherers. This way of living changed with the advent of agriculture. As they did not leave any written documents, it is impossible to know what their beliefs were. Archeologists think that similar cultures can develop in different societies that live under the same conditions. People may be separated in time and live on different continents. Still, they adapt to a related environment in the same way because of similarities in neurological function. The term used for this is multilinear cultural evolution.
The only way we can determine what early humans believed in is to study hunter-gatherer societies in existence today. This is exactly what Hervey Peoples and her coauthors did. They compared religious practices and beliefs in thirty-three extant hunter-gatherer groups scattered over the world. Similarities likely exist between current small-scale societies and those that lived before the appearance of agriculture.
Anthropologists refer to cultures in which individuals have contact with a limited number of other people as small-scale societies. The members of these groups are often related, and they know each other well. Small-scale societies lack complicated economies and governments. They don’t need formal laws to dictate social conduct as members of the group generally share the same customs and beliefs.
Peoples investigated to what extent the following beliefs are present in these cultures: animism, belief in an afterlife, ancestor worship, shamanism, a belief in what she calls high gods, and ancestors or gods involved in the lives of people. She assumes that the most prevalent practices, the ones found in the largest percentage of these cultures, must be the oldest. Less common religious beliefs probably only developed later.
The percentages of the various beliefs in the different tribes were as follows: animism in all groups, belief in an afterlife (79%), shamanism (79%), ancestor worship (45%), and high gods (39%). Twenty-four percent of tribes believed that their ancestors are actively involved in their lives. And in only 15% did high gods care about the affairs of humans.
Animism is the notion that everything in nature, including animals, trees, waterfalls, rocks, and thunder, possesses a vital force or spirit that can influence people. It attributes lifelike qualities to inanimate objects. Already in 1871, Sir Edward Tylor postulated that animism is the most fundamental trait of religion.
In The God Delusion, Dawkins states that children have a natural tendency to believe that everything has a purpose. In itself, this conviction has no benefit but is a byproduct of something else which does have an advantage. Currently, there seems to be a consensus that animism does not have a demonstrable purpose. Animism is not a religion as such as it does not involve worship. It is related to the workings of the human mind. But it does open up the possibility of a belief in the soul and the afterlife.
In spring, a seemingly dead tree sprouts new leaves and comes back to life again. If plants can survive death, it must have seemed possible for humans to have a soul or essence that can live on after the person died. The soul either enters the afterlife or is reincarnated on earth as another living entity. Because people could not usually see departed souls, they assumed that they live in an invisible realm. Different cultures call this place Heaven, the Happy Hunting Ground, Hades, or Valhalla. It is often a nice domain to be where the dead’s spirits live on for all eternity. In some cultures, there is also a place reserved for people who misbehaved while they were alive. This is indeed not pleasant one and it is used to scare naughty children to get them to behave.
The next logical step in the evolution of religion is the belief in ancestral spirits. In societies relying on foraging, pastoralism, and subsistence farming for survival, people view elders of the tribe as a source of knowledge and wisdom. They know where to find water and other resources, when to plant crops and the best way to hunt. After death, these individuals’ spirits live on in the afterlife. They can still provide the living with guidance and protect them during difficult times.
A shaman is a person with extraordinary powers, and he or she can mediate between humans and the spirit world. The shaman can contact ancestral spirits on behalf of living relatives. These spirits can intervene in their descendants’ affairs on earth. In small-scale societies (primitive society is a derogative term), the shaman plays a psychologist’s role. With the ancestors’ authority, they can change people’s behavior, end domestic violence, or convince a husband to provide his wife and children with money and food. They play a significant role in the well-being of society.
In African subsistence farming societies, ancestor worship plays a large role. Although they have a concept of a supreme being of sorts, a person cannot contact God directly. The traditional healer is able to contact ancestral spirits. In turn, ancestors get the message through to God by relaying it through a long line of their ancestors who live in the same realm as they.
About 10 000 BCE, in the Middle East, agriculture replaced the existing lifestyle during the late stone age or Neolithic period. Instead of following game animals, people could settle down, and they started to build small villages. Food was more abundant, sustaining a larger population and making a sedentary lifestyle possible.
As hunter-gatherers lived off nature, they did not have much need for fertility rites. Everything they needed was present in the environment. After people started cultivating grain and domesticating animals, improving their crops yields and livestock’s fertility became an issue. The need arose for fertility goddesses.
Animism gave rise not only to ancestor worship but also to the idea of nature spirits. A life force imbued everything, and spirits lived in and ruled over vegetation, mountains, and water bodies. Water spirits especially are prevalent in many ancient societies.
In biblical times almost every tribe had its god or gods unique to the group. Most families had shrines to household deities. Zulu ancestral spirits resided in the kitchen area of the hut. Therefore, a handy place to hide things like candy from children was between the cooking utensils.
As large-scale societies where people came into contact with large numbers of other people developed, more complicated political systems were needed to organize society. Their rulers needed high gods to legitimize them, justifying their rule. Believers based the heavenly realm of gods on the political systems they knew. Theocracies came into being, and rulers held onto power by divine authority. Something like, “If you don’t listen to your mother, Daddy will punish you when he gets home!”
State and religion became indistinguishable.
The earliest high gods formed a pantheon with a ruler or king at the head. The Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, and Norse tribes believed in and worshipped numerous gods. Why? People probably saw them as the godly equivalent of the Elders or a kingdom where the king has many officials with authority over its regions or functions. They could also have been modeled on individual neighboring city-states, each with its king.
Zoroastrianism developed in Persia in about 600 BCE. It was a monotheistic religion. Soon afterward, during the exile to Babylon, Judaism became monotheistic too. The Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism) account for more than 50% of world religions. Essentially they are all monotheistic. However, Christianity has reverted to polytheism again as they worship both the Jewish God Jahweh and Christ their Savior. In addition to this, the Catholic Church has Mary, the mother of God. The myriad saints are reminiscent of ancestral spirits and household deities. Many communities or professions have their own saint protecting them and interceding on their behalf.
Today Hinduism is the largest remaining polytheistic religion.
Some belief systems cannot be classified as religions per se because they do not have deities. Buddhism is probably the best-known one. The scientific method test hypotheses or concepts and discards them when disproved. A scientist probably believes that a particular theory is likely to explain a phenomenon but will let go of the idea when experimental evidence does not support it. On the other hand, Atheism believes in God’s non-existence without having tested the notion scientifically. Although it is not a religion, it certainly qualifies as a faith or a system of beliefs.
Just as survival of the fittest applies to individual members of a species, it has relevance for societies or groups. It is not about the survival of humanity as a whole but about the possibility that one group survives and the other not. The behavior of a group can make its continual existence more likely compared to that of another group. Culture, used in an anthropological sense, determines group behavior. And religion forms part of that culture.
Does religion have any benefit? I believe it does. At some stage, religions must have conferred a survival benefit to social groups. Otherwise, it would not have survived so long. Granted, it also led to acts of terror, wars, and genocide. Religious ideas are likely to live on if they positively impact society or have a neutral effect (similar to genetic drift in biology). If it has a negative impact, it is bound to disappear eventually.
We can list all the possible ways in which various religions contributed to small groups’ survival and later to that of larger societies. Many of the benefits, are speculative. Initially, spiritual beliefs helped people adapt to their environment. When larger civilizations arose, it contributed to cohesion in the community.
Richard Dawkins came up with the concept of memes to explain the origin of religion. Memes are the social equivalent of genes. They are cultural elements that can be transferred between individuals and are passed on from generation to generation. Just like genes, memes can undergo mutations. The fittest memes get passed on while others are not. This concept is undoubtedly original and quite quaint. In my opinion, it is unnecessary and only complicates the explanation of society’s evolution and that of its religions. Dawkins believes that nothing positive can ever come from religion, and meme theory allowed him to explain the origins and development of religion without anybody having to benefit from religion.
In ancient times religious rules determined people’s social conduct. “Thou shalt not kill.” and “Thou shalt not steal.” Ethical norms were based on religion. Formal laws replaced many of these rules of conduct. Society no longer needs religion to function. Religion does not have to dictate morals any longer, as many people behave morally without relying on faith for ethics. Divine beings are no longer needed to explain natural phenomena like lightning, thunder, or a solar eclipse.
Especially in Europe, there is a tendency for people to become secularized. In spite of this, many people still need to believe in something or someone larger than themselves to make their existence meaningful.
The beauty of nature does not prove the existence of God. Abrahamic religions base their concept of God on earthly kings, but this does not prove that God doesn’t exist either.
Most people refer to God as He. In ancient times rulers led their armies in battle, and as the male sex is physically stronger, these kingdoms were ruled by men most of the time. Till about 200 years ago, it was still customary for the king to accompany soldiers to the battlefield. Examples of statesmen who partook in battle are Richard the Lionheart and Napoleon Bonaparte. During the last 100 years, there have been many female heads of state like Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May, Angela Merkel, Golda Meir, and Indira Gandhi. Maybe the time has come for God’s gender to be updated.
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” William Shakespeare.
References
Dawkins, Richard. The God Delusion. 2006.
Fagan, Brian. M., De Corse Christopher. R. In the Beginning: an Introduction to Archaeology. 11th ed. 2005.
Peoples, H. C., Duda, P., Marlowe, F.W. Hunter-Gatherers and the Origins of Religion. Human Nature 2016 Sept; 27(3):261–82.
