Narrator Alan Sklar

For at least the last 50,000 years, and probably much longer, people have
practiced religion. Yet little attention has been given, either by believers
or atheists, to the question of whether this universal human behavior might
have an evolutionary basis. Did religion evolve, in other words, because it
helped people in early societies survive?

In this original and controversial book, Nicholas Wade, a longtime reporter
for the New York Times Science section, gathers new evidence showing why
religion became so essential in the course of human evolution and how an
instinct for faith has been hardwired into human nature. This startling
thesis is sure to catch the attention of both believers and nonbelievers.

People of faith may not warm to the view that the mind's receptivity to
religion has been shaped by evolution. Atheists may not embrace the idea
that religious expression evolved because it conferred essential benefits
on ancient societies and their successors. As The Faith Instinct argues,
however, both groups must address the fact, little understood before now,
that religious behavior is an evolved part of human nature. How did we
evolve to believe? Wade shows that the instinct for religious behavior is
wired into our neural circuits much like our ability to learn a language.
Religion provided the earliest human societies with the equivalents of law
and government, giving these societies an edge in the struggle for survival.
As a force that binds people together and coordinates social behavior,
religion supported another significant set of social behaviors: aggression
and warfare. Religious behavior, both good and ill will remain an indelible
component of human nature so long as human societies need the security and
cohesion that belief provides.

Social scientists once predicted that religion would progressively fade
away as societies advanced in wealth and education. They were wrong.

Download File Size:344.92 MB

---