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Wow! Religion Critic Really Stirred Up A Hornet’s Nest! [1]

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Date: 2023-02-18  

From time immemorial, humans have practiced some form of religion. This trait is universal in Homo Sapiens. The oldest burials that attest to a belief in life after death can be placed in the period between about 50,000 and 30,000 BCE. Why is this? No other mammal buries it’s dead. In my reading on this subject I recently came across a thesis that made a lot of sense to me. Here is a short summary.

All human infants are born with a neural imprint of a supreme being separate from themselves who is all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving, and who answers all of their pleas and attends to all of their needs. This neural imprint is vital to the survival of the human infant due to its total helplessness for many months after birth. This is a survival tool similar to the suckling reflex that allows human newborns to get nourishment by mouth immediately after taking their first breath. If the infant survives and thrives into self sufficiency, this neural imprint also survives and thrives in the human brain. The object of this imprint, however, is transferred from one entity to another - from the human mother to a supernatural god. This is the biological root of human belief in a god, a supreme being who insures the individual’s survival and wellbeing. This is an illusion that exists only in the human brain. It is leftover from the evolved capacity of humans to survive infancy.

To me this thesis explains many things about religion. First, it is universal in all humans. Every one of us developed in the womb of our mother, were brought into this world by her, and were nurtured and cared for by her for many months until we could survive on our own. Our very existence and survival is wholly dependent on our mother. It seems reasonable that this vital and powerful mother/child imprint would continue in some form throughout our lives. It does, and that form is religion.

Your flavor of religion depends almost entirely on your place of birth. True, some people convert to a religion other than the one into which they were born, but this is a small minority. Ask a Middle Eastern Muslim, Indian Hindu, Eastern European Orthodox, American Evangelical, or myriad other believers why they chose their current religion out of the many that are practiced in the world, and they will look at you as if you had two heads. Religion is a universal human trait, but the individual flavor is location specific. It is cultural, like the language spoken, food eaten, and clothing worn in each place of birth. Your tribe defines you, supports you, and defends you. And you will fight to the death to defend your tribe, your religion.

Second, why are people so touchy and defensive about their religion? Could it be that dissing someone’s religion is the same as dissing their mother? If the mother/child neural network in the brain is the same as that for religion, this could explain the intense feelings religious people have for their religion. It resides at the very core of their being. Their survival depends on it.

Third, why do the religious have such disdain for atheists? Well, if everyone is born with the neural imprint of the mother/deity necessary for survival, then everyone should, by default, be religious. How could it be otherwise? I would posit that atheism is not a natural state. It is a result of the human brain’s evolved ability to process new information and develop unique and novel conclusions, to rationalize non-instinctual processes and outcomes. The brain is a survival machine, and in Homo Sapiens it is at its highest development so far. Since diverging from Neanderthals some 400,000 +/-years ago, these new hominids have enveloped this planet with over 8,000,000,000 individual survivors. Evolution is continuous and relentless. Homo Sapiens are not the end of evolution. The next evolved brain (Homo Technicalis?) will likely be more powerful yet. Maybe that will be the end of religion.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/18/2153694/-Wow-Religion-Critic-Really-Stirred-Up-A-Hornet-s-Nest

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