I believe that there was a definite evolutionary reason why religion evolved in the human species. It is not merely a set of parasitic memes that slipped into the collective human brain, as Richard Dawkins thinks and as I speculated in my new book, Life of Earth. I believe he is correct but that there is more to the story. I believe that religion, at least in a rudimentary form, is hard-wired into our brains. This means that natural selection had to fashion it. What evolutionary advantage did religion confer?
It is a weapon.
Religion allows one person to exert control over another. We all know about parasitic religious leaders who have deluded followers into giving them money and overlooking their unlimited sinfulness. I mean just one individual exerting control over another.
I realized this recently when I ran into a rabid conservative in the supermarket. (Are all conservatives rabid? I am beginning to think that, in Oklahoma, many of them are. And they have guns. Lots of them.) We had just experienced several days of snow, ice, and very cold temperatures. So he decided to make fun of me for accepting the science of global warming. (Note that I did not begin this conversation.) I said that the overall trend of temperatures still shows that global warming is occurring; yes, it is cold in winter, and global warming is not going to change that. It is the long-term average that counts. He did not listen. He started yelling about how Al Gore was a terrible person (I made no attempt to defend Mr. Gore) and that this proves that all of global warming science is a hoax. I started to say that the science does not, in fact, depend on anything Al Gore says or does.
Then he pulled out his big guns. He said that there was no global warming because of Jesus. I didn’t quite see the connection. I think he meant that his opinions were inerrant because of Jesus. Of course, there is no way to win this argument, because if you disagree with him about anything that proves that you are an enemy of Christ.
I have put up with his attacks for years. (He used to mow my lawn. And now I regret that he knows where I live.) I have always remained calm and agreed as much as I could and quietly held my ground on the rest. But this time I finally lost my patience, though not very visibly. The people in the supermarket were already watching him before I had said anything. You see, I brought out the big guns right then: religion! I used a religious argument against him. I said that Jesus was not his little finger puppet to wave in the air to make him win every argument.
When I needed a strong weapon in an argument, I pulled out the sword of religion. Even I, as an agnostic scientist. No scientific argument is as strong and primal as religion. A religious argument has an irresistible, primal, visceral satisfaction to it that, at least, feels genetic to me, though I may be wrong—perhaps the Dawkinsian religion memes have so thoroughly parasitized my brain that I am unable to imagine any other explanation. I marveled as I watched myself do this. It happened without any premeditation on my part. I felt as if the two of us were two prehistoric tribes accusing each other of being the enemies of God. When I realized this, I just ended the conversation—forever.
When I felt the religious zeal grasp my brain, I hardly knew what I was saying. But one of the onlookers had an empathetic look on his face and wished me a nice day as I left the scene. This is my external reality check, by which I know that I had not been blinded by my use of religion as a weapon. How would I know otherwise?
Religion is a weapon. I know because I found that I used it as such, without thinking, against someone who used it as such, by deliberate choice.
I am a fairly inoffensive person, as anyone who knows me will testify. But I have been sought out and attacked in this way by conservatives a number of times. I should just admit what I have seen: many conservatives are out for blood, and religion is the weapon they use, just short of firearms.
It is religious conservatives, like this man, who are the best argument against the existence of God.
I imagine some of you might want to share similar experiences you have had, and I encourage you to do so in the comment box.
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