Is there evolutionary value to religious belief?

Question

I've been watching a lot of interviews and lectures featuring Prof. (Dr.?) Richard Dawkins, and I find his statements about evolution to be quite inspiring.

In one interview, he is asked where atheists get their moral code, if not from god. He responded, and I'm paraphrasing here, that everyone, not just atheists, gets their moral code through evolution; man is a social creature, and values certain things like life and freedom, because these values are beneficial to our survival as a species. This is also stated in his book, The God Delusion.

Later in the program, in an attempt to refute Mr. Dawkins's perspective, another guest makes a point that ritual worship is a universal human trait. While I find it difficult to believe that every human being in every culture feels the need to take part in ritual worship, it does seem pervasive in all cultures (at least in my experience). It certainly seems that the vast majority of people feel a need to believe in something "greater than themselves".

While listening to the interviews, the two perspectives seemed to combine, and I surmised that if man is almost universally worshipful/religious, then there must be some evolutionary or survival value in this behavior.

My question is this: What possible value could there be to mankind, as a species, to take part in ritual worship? If such evolutionary value ever existed, does it still apply today? Why or why not?

Please note that I am not out to debate the truth or validity of any particular religious view.

Answer 1

I'd say it's more of a socially valuable thing, though probably not in modern society.

Think of it this way - if you're the leader of a up and coming society but your 'minions' have difficulty behaving, what better way is there into scaring them into behaving or giving the promise of everlasting life, etc?  Religion works very well for what it was designed - controlling populations.  That is the major benefit of it.

Beyond that though, unless you keep your beliefs solely for tradition and not in any particularly zealous or fundamental way, religion serves no purpose but to separate those who believe one thing and those who believe another.  Sure it gets you together as a community, but why should beliefs be the only reason for socialising?  

Answer 2

I think that religions where formed to explain why with the answer "it was god". However if everyone answered every unknown with "it was god" then who's trying to get the answer? no one.  

Answer 3

I don't think spiritual beliefs in and of themselves confer any evolutionary advantage.  I think they are rather a side-effect of our drive to understand the world around us and our ability to understand abstract concepts (which themselves provide obvious benefits).  I think religion stemmed from spiritual beliefs but was more of a source of both social unity and control ("follow society's rules, or you will suffer even after death").

Answer 4

Hmm, interesting question. I assume you mean the fitness value of religious belief in general? Because it's not difficult to say that a religion that thinks god(s) want people to have a dozen children is an advantage.

But don't confuse the fact that certain beliefs have existed for a long time with value for survival or reproduction.

For a long time, people used to think the earth was flat. That didn't have any effect on fitness one way or the other. The mere fact that religious belief has been around for a long time, doesn't make it automatically useful.

Of course, religions are strange, in that they're not a genetic trait, but are often passed on to offspring, so you can regard them as "genetic" when observing the whole population. Today it's simple to take a look at the statistics and conclude that atheists reproduce just as well as theists, so there is no visible evolutionairy value.

But then there are certain dogmas that allow a religion to spread. For instance, a religion prescribing complete abstinence won't spread. A culture following such a religion is bound to be out performed by rivals. If we have a religion that says "Go forth and multiply", it's guaranteed to have many followers, and a culture following adhering to such a religion is certainly much larger than one that doesn't.

As for ritual worship, that can mostly be explained by selective memory. Say that you're waiting for the traffic light and snap whistle a tune, while snapping your fingers. Suddenly the light turns green. You might conclude that you caused this, so you try again. After a several failed attempts, it "works" again. You could start thinking your ritual had an effect, because "it worked twice already". You conveniently ignore the fact that it failed a dozen times, and that the light would have turned green anyway. Human brains have a tendency to count to hits and forget the misses.

It's like prayer, it might "work" a few times, but what you're really doing is forgetting the hundreds of things you didn't get. It also helps if you chalk this up to "the divine plan".

tl;dr

No, I don't think there's an evolutionairy advantage to religion in general, but there might be to certain religions