Any discussion of religion invites misunderstanding and conflict. The idea of large multinational organizations called “religions” is misleading. At best, the idea of religion is a fuzzy category that implies more coherence than can be found in the real world.

Religion is a convenient fiction. Humans have convened in small groups for thousands of years to celebrate, to appease evil spirits and to encourage good spirits to offer more privileges and benefits. They dress up in costumes, beat drums, chant, sing, dance and make offerings to innumerable gods. These celebrations help to maintain group unity and often induce euphoric feelings in the participants. While there has always been an archetypal form to these group activities, each local group developed its own version of myths, rituals and celebrations. The belief in spirits is the universal form. The names, number and idiosyncratic expressions of the spirits is the local content. 

No discussion of religion will make sense until a deep feature of human nature is understood. Humans may sometimes look like individuals, but the truth is that all humans are members of a local group that determines what they know, how they communicate and how they treat other humans. Each local group develops stories, beliefs and rules.

Collections of local groups with special beliefs into larger organizations are often described as “religion.” Members of local groups are described as “religious” if they recite group slogans, attend meetings and celebrations.  Religions often claim special privileges for their members so that the term “religious” is used to claim advantages and superior moral authority where none actually exists.

In this book, I make frequent references to the local group and emphasize the importance of group activity and group identity. The aptitude and skills required for affiliations and bonding originated with interactions in small groups. Human tendencies developed in small hunter-gather groups with humans who knew each other and depended on each other to find food, protect the young and defend the group from predators.

The tendency for selective, even exclusive, group membership is deeply embedded in the human mind and shows up everywhere and at all times. The key elements of group identity are recognizable appearance enhanced by costumes, common language, common beliefs and common behaviors, especially ritualistic behaviors.

The world "belief" is often used by people who belong to religious organizations; for them belief is an expression of loyalty to a group and its predetermined creeds and stories. Religious beliefs involve unreasoned opinions that arbitrarily reduce uncertainty within the chosen group. Religious beliefs are often attached to the worst of human behaviors and are often used to justify hatred and killing. The word “faith” is used to describe unquestioning acceptance of the beliefs of the local group. Groups that base their existence on local beliefs attach great importance to declarations of faith since their beliefs are arbitrary and cannot be tested. To a religious fanatic, faith is a virtue. To a reasonable scientist, faith is an obstacle and a vice. To an intelligence officer defending homeland security, beliefs are potentially dangerous delusions. More about Belief

A 21st century philosopher's task is to update our descriptions of ourselves to accommodate burgeoning scientific knowledge and an increasingly sophisticated understanding of human behavior, the brain and complex systems in general.

We suddenly have new and revolutionary knowledge about human beings, their languages, arts and culture; about information gathering, storage and retrieval; about computation, communication; about the transformation of energy and materials; about molecular biology, genetics and the evolution of life on earth.

We have to re-examine what we care about and advance new vocabularies that allow us to proceed into new domains of thought and understanding. There is a critical lag in the assimilation of new knowledge into the culture and a rapidly widening schism separates the few who know how things work and the majority who do not.

One of the more pathetic features of religious membership is the dependence on a few anachronistic books that are given high status. The libraries full of erudition, insight into human nature and the human condition are rejected or ignored.

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Religion and Survival

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