Obsolescence and Vanishing Ethos: Indoctrination and Escape from Religion

By Tom Schneider

A coming-of-age book of a young man and his early commitment to religion and the trials, struggles and complexities of religion. A glimpse into the authors private life from childhood through adulthood and his decision to pull away from organized religion. The author brings insight into religion from personal experiences and research into the relationship of religion to physical, mental and psychological well-being on humans. Obsolescence and Vanishing Ethos explores personal trials and cover such topics as guilt, control, issues of the church and sex, masturbation and homosexuality, as well as topics on the anthropological aspect and religion as a business enterprise.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9781663239891

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Copyright © 2022 Tom Schneider.

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ISBN: 978-1-6632-3988-4 (sc)

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2022909503

iUniverse rev. date: 05/24/2022

To Adam Weise, who encouraged me to write

this book, and to MCC for inspiration.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1:     Beginnings

Chapter 2:     Killing Fields

Chapter 3:     Forced To Believe

Chapter 4:     Controlled

Chapter 5:     The Pedestal

Chapter 6:     Religion And Sex

Chapter 7:     The Problem Of Masturbation

Chapter 8:     A Taste For Oral Sex

Chapter 9:     The Unrepentant Homosexual

Chapter 10:   In The Name Of God

Chapter 11:   The Church Environment

Chapter 12:   Church As A Business

Chapter 13:   False Prophets

Chapter 14:   Sadistic Behavior

Chapter 15:   Hypocrisy

Chapter 16:   The Effects Of Religion On Individuals

Chapter 17:   The Issue Of Abortion

Chapter 18:   Birth Control

Chapter 19:   Drawing A Conclusion

Chapter 20:   A Conclusion Of My Own

Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

Religions are all alike—founded

upon fables and mythologies.

—Thomas Jefferson

Religion is a system of beliefs and practices that guide the way a group of people struggles with the ultimate problems of human life. It’s a system of activities and beliefs directed toward that which is perceived to be of sacred value and transforming power.

There are many books and theological treatises on the benefits of religion but few on the consequences or negative impact of religion on society and individuals. The word religion, in this writing, refers specifically to organized Christian religion, which includes the Catholic Church. I have little understanding of the impact of religions such as Judaism, Islam, Buddhism or any other forms of organized religions on the people who worship them. However, I do make generalizations that include all forms of religion. The contents of this writing are a look at religion from personal experiences and research into the relationship of religion to physical, mental, and psychological well-being on humans. Part of this document explores personal trials with religion from my early years to the present and covers such topics as guilt; control; and issues of the church related sex, masturbation, and homosexuality, as well as other topics.

It’s important to understand how we as humans evolved into a religious state, so we’ll look at the anthropological aspect of religion, as well as religion as a business enterprise.

One of the main topics of discussion will be the atrocities that are a result of religious ferocity committed by Christians and, in some cases, sanctioned by the church and basically kept silent. A section of Obsolescence and Vanishing Ethos looks at the atrocities the Christian church has engaged in over the last two thousand plus years and those still ongoing today. (I have not included any atrocities committed by any non-Christian religions).

Much of the material and statements are based on my research on the topic of effects of religion on people and society. Though I put a negative slant on religion, I realize it is the center of some people’s existence. In no way am I condemning the religious practice of others. Rather, I’m simply looking at religion from a personal perspective. I am aware that, for many, religions offer comfort, support, and daily guidance. I am not here to convince you or sway your religious beliefs. Rather, I’m simply putting forth my understanding and personal experience of the topic.

Religion is a belief system that can be enjoyed with subdued emotions or with the fervor of evangelicalism. For others, it has become a thing of the past, especially in today’s culture, where fewer people are engaged in the practice of religion. That is not to say that those who do not practice religion are less spiritual or doomed to the eternal fires of hell. I’m simply noting that they choose not to practice for personal reasons.

With the negative image religion has taken on in today’s society, many still believe in God, just not in the hypocrisy of organized religion and the need to worship in a church.

To give this document some credence, I have included some quotes on religion from some influential individuals in history who are well respected and have had much to say to us in the past.

CHAPTER 1

BEGINNINGS

Surely the ass who invented the first religion

ought to be the first ass damned.

—Mark Twain

Starting Point

I GREW UP AS A CATHOLIC and took on my religious role with veracity and centered my existence on the concepts of good and evil, something the church taught us starting at a relatively early age. The Catholic Church became such an important element in my early childhood that I fantasized about joining the order and becoming a priest. This was reinforced and encouraged by my mother, who hoped one of her children would receive the calling, as it would guarantee her a place in heaven, or so the church said.

Life began in a small town in the Midwest, a small but endearing bucolic environment. The population at the time I was growing up was 1,447 people, give or take a few. We always had new people moving into our picturesque little community. But the population numbers listed on the road signs upon entering the town never seemed to increase throughout my entire youth. Go figure! Like all other small towns, ours had a Main Street, which ran down the center of a five-block area we knew as downtown. There, no buildings were taller than three stories, other than the local churches. The town was nothing special in terms of attributes, other than it was similar to thousands of other small towns across the country. There were plenty of open spaces; more towering trees than you could count; tall green and yellow fields of corn, wheat, soy beans, and potatoes; and, of course, plenty of farms where the sounds and smells of farm life were evident. The only outstanding feature of our little community, which gave us bragging rights was the Mississippi River, meandering like an elderly gentleman strolling down some boulevard with no sense of urgency on its way to the Gulf of Mexico. It was a quiet little community, which reminded me of the idyllic family life that so often represented in family-oriented TV shows, advertisements, and storybooks. But in reality, that image was only a hidden facade of what went on in our community and family settings.

When I was about seven years old, the town decided to put a stoplight in the middle of town that separated the north/south routes from the east/west routes; it became a big event, as everyone felt we were moving up into the big time. What would come next? Life in a small town wasn’t difficult, as you had a sense of belonging, not only to your immediate family but to the church community you worshiped in and your school, as well as the town as a whole. The entire town became part of your extended family. Life was comfortable as long as you didn’t rock the boat.

The Mississippi River also had its beginning in Minnesota, where it percolated out of the ground in a very nondescript manner, flowing southward while picking up strength and speed as it traveled the 2,348 miles to the Gulf of Mexico. The river ran through our little community and our family’s property, where the land terraced down to the river embankment. The Mississippi was the first thing I saw on most mornings upon waking as I passed the large picture window overlooking the river. The river was always something I counted on, an element of comfort for times I needed to escape and relaxation; it was always there for me, like some faithful pet that followed me and gave me pleasure. Like the boys I read about, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, in two of my favorite books growing up, I felt I was another character out of Mark Twain’s imagination. I spent so much time with the Mississippi River I saw it as my personal haven, and it was as comfortable as my old blue sneakers I kept around even though I could no longer wear them. The river gave me a sense of wonder and awe.

Religion, other than Catholicism, greatly fascinated and intrigued me, and I read all I could about the various belief systems. When I discovered the workings of ancient Greek and Roman religions, I became captivated with the personalities of the various gods and goddesses and digested any information I could about them. Books by writers such as Mary Renault and Edith Hamilton engulfed me with the fantasy of polytheism and life in years long gone to the past. Books including the Iliad and the Odyssey and a number of books on Alexander the Great, Plato, Socrates, and others all drew my attention. I could not get enough information about their lives and the times they lived in.

There was Zeus/Jupiter the alpha males, Aphrodite/Venus the goddess of love depicted in so many paintings, Hades/Pluto the ruler of hell, and Apollo and Athena/Minerva, gods of music and wisdom. I became fascinated with Dionysus/Bacchus, the god of wine and revelry. He was a devil of a god, who seemed to constantly get into trouble, which is probably why I admired him so much (and am still fascinated with him to this day).

During this period of discovery, I found that the god of rivers was Achelous. He famously battled with Heracles, in the form of a bull for the hand of Dejanira and was bested. One day, the nymphs were offering sacrifices to the gods on the banks of the Achelous River in Greece, but they forgot to include Achelous himself. The river God became so angry, he overflowed his banks with a raging flood, sweeping the nymphs away into the sea. As Achelous tells his story, I tore forests from forests, fields from fields; and with the place they stood on, I swept the nymphs away, who at last remembered me then, into the sea. There my flood and the sea, united, cleft the undivided ground into as many parts as now you see the Echinades yonder amid the waves.

Achelous had a personality of his own, which was different from that of Neptune, the god of the seas. The Mississippi River had a heavenly personality as well, one that was generous and magnanimous, often giving me moments of solitude and comfort. During the hot summer months, the Mississippi became my refuge from the heat and complexities of daily life, including family dynamics. I could go down to the river’s edge and sit on some large green moss-covered rock jutting out from the rushing water, dangling my feet in the cool, clear water. The river being so clean and clear led to one of my favorite pastimes of scouring its bottom for interesting rock formations and colors. While sitting there under the shadows of some towering, overhanging tree, I would listen to the gurgling water as it rushed upon the exposed rocks and met the water’s edge. It was during those times that a metamorphose would occur, a transforming, spiritual experience with nature, which I cherished while undertaking the sport of fishing (later in childhood I stopped fishing, as I didn’t like killing) or just contemplating my life and the wonderful surroundings God gave me. My place of solace was a well-hidden area some distance from my home where the shading of the elm and oak trees and wild grasses kept me well hidden from other interlopers. Like the Christian God, the Mississippi River was comforting, generous, and benevolent—well, most of the time anyway.

But the Mississippi River had two sides to itself, two distinct and different personalities. During the summer months, the Mississippi River was cooling and inviting, always enticing me to its banks. However, during the winter months along the shoreline alcoves, the slower-moving water would freeze over while the deep, faster-moving areas with strong currents would remain exposed to the elements. The shoreline, with deep, fast-moving currents would not freeze but would splash against the rocks, creating droplets of finely sculpted icicles skirting the edges of the rocks. I saw these natural wonders as Mother Nature’s ice chandeliers, as beautiful and translucent as any created by man. It was during this time that the vengeful and malevolent side of the river god would surface. Even though it was cold and harsh, I still enjoyed going down to the riverbank and sitting, now on rocks dripping with ice formations watching the gray mists rising from the frigid, inhospitable, and unsympathetic river. But now, I sensed bitterness and anger. The gentle green life of summer was transformed into the whites and dark grays of winter and blistering cold.

It was during the late winter months when the snow began to melt that the true nature of the river’s other personality surfaced. As the river melted, huge ice floes would materialize and migrate downstream, leaving large areas of destruction by uprooting large mature trees and boulders, as well as buildings if they were in its destructive path. My grandparents had a small cement housing unit that contained all the elements that would allow them to pump water from the river to their garden and lawn. One particularly angry winter’s floe took out the concrete building that housed the equipment and moved it to another location, with little concern for what lay in its wake. I would spend hours watching from our living room picture windows as the ice floes eagerly raced downstream, crashing into each other and depositing themselves high upon our riverbank. You could hear the crashing of the ice floes as they careened into one another, as if the giant Paul Bunyan was wrestling his equally gigantic blue ox Babe, sending earth-shattering tremors where the countryside would reverberate from the crashing sounds.

Every early spring, I would wait for the torture of Mother Nature to begin, as there was something within me that desired that destructive force. Watching the destruction of the ice floes gave me a sensation of fear and wonder, fear of the anger and destructive nature but wonder at the strength and power of such a force. One morning, I woke to see a group of trees on the far side of the riverbank still standing, tall and majestic, despite their trunks having been stripped bare of their outer bark. So devastating a force yet so precise, like a skilled butcher flaying the skin of a recently slaughtered steer with ease and precision.

Minnesota was known as the Land of 10,000 Lakes. During the last Ice Age, 90 percent of Minnesota (and all of Canada) was covered by a huge glacier; as the weather warmed, the glacier melted and receded, creating the thousands of lakes Minnesota is known for. Folklore had it that these lakes were formed by the footprints of Paul Bunyan and his trusty blue ox Babe. Many Minnesotan cities and towns were located near rivers or lakes, like Big Lake and Clearwater, our close neighbor just a few miles from where we lived. Big Lake and Clearwater (not much imagination used in the christening) were named for the huge nearby lakes, where we would often enjoy swimming and a chance to cool down from the hot summer days.

Everything in our pint-sized town seemed homogeneous. We were all essentially alike, in that we were white, had similar likes and dislikes, and worshiped in Christian churches (no Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, or people who belonged to other faith groups). We were all middle class (there was richer and poorer middle class, but still all middle class). We basically dressed alike, we were politically conservative, and so on.

During the early years, that hometown environment, as something I had grown accustomed to, was a place of belonging and comfort. But as I grew older, my surroundings became too middle of the road, too predictable, creating a feeling of entrapment. It may have been a combination of our family dynamics, along with the conservative nonconformist attitude that existed within our community. Whatever it was, I grew uncomfortable. At an early age, I began to have feelings of wanting out. But where was a young child to run to? Did I find somewhere else and begin my life over or was I trapped in a family situation and environment that I just had to accept and make do? My decision was to adopt a new family, one that was loving and caring.

At around the age of eight, that new family became my grandparents, who lived next door; their home became a haven and escape during troubled times. I literally referred to them as my parents, to myself anyway so I wouldn’t receive any backlash from my own parents. But they eventually knew, as I spent more quality time with my grandparents than I did with my own family. Young boys would play softball and hang out with friends during their free time, but for me, free time was spent with my grandparents helping them with home and garden work or playing cards or any of the board games they kept in the toy cupboard. But mostly it was just spent in conversation about any number of topics, as well as concerns of daily life. This relationship became a refuge, where I wasn’t overpowered by the demands and wants of my family but allowed to be who I wanted to be.

My paternal grandparents were of German and French stock, my grandfather having immigrated to America from Germany at the age of six. My grandmother’s family history was never discussed, other than I knew she had a French background. Both my grandparents had a welcoming personality, and their love for their grandchildren was very obvious. However, the love and closeness weren’t always reciprocated by all the grandchildren. The older my brothers and sisters grew, the wider the chasm existed between them and my grandparents. But for me, I only became closer to them. And of course, there existed conflict between my parents and grandparents, due to their proximity and the fact that my grandparents’ expectations were seldom met by my parents.

One of my favorite activities with my grandfather, which occurred a couple of times a year, was during torrential summer downpours. The storms would overwhelm the drainage systems so they would back up and flood the area. If someone didn’t go out into the storm and clear away the debris, there could be damaging flooding. My grandfather, the meticulous nature lover that he was, would dress up in his rain poncho and hip-high waders and attack the clogged drainage system. During that period, we would be watching from the window for signs of our grandfather, and as soon as we saw him, we would suit up into our rain gear, grab a rake, and enter the land of fun and glory—for that was exactly what it was. The water was usually knee-high, but we entered the dilemma with smiles and giggles to see if we could unclog the system. Once the system was clear of debris, there would be a huge whooshing sound from the hungry mouth of the drain as the water was inhaled into the hungry drainage system. At one time, the sweeping water was so strong, it brought me to my knees, drenching me totally. I couldn’t stand, as I was giggling so much, but my grandfather was able to grab onto me and haul me to my feet.

Grandmother was small (not even five feet tall) but full of love. And the thing she loved most was anything to do with sewing and creating. She even tried her hand at painting but put it aside when she knew it wasn’t for her. She constantly kept her hands busy, not only working in her gardens but embroidering, crocheting, rug making, rug braiding, and constructing patchwork quilts. You name it, my grandmother enjoyed it—usually while sitting in her dining area near her large picture window that overlooked her flower gardens and lawn. It also afforded her the opportunity to observe what was going on in the neighborhood, as she had a clear picture of everyone on the block.

As I said, growing up in my environment was just too middle of the road. If you went against the grain of conservative Christianism or acted or dressed in a way that would be considered inappropriate, you basically became an outcast. I always felt stunted growing up in that community’ I knew this was just the surface of reality—that a whole new world existed beyond our cloistered environment. Many of the townspeople, including my family, were comfortable with who they were, what they had, and where they lived and were too afraid to venture out and experience anything beyond the comfort of their small, congealed world.

A high school friend was well liked with an outgoing personality, but he had a fear of anything nonconventional; feared the different and unknown and what lay beyond. He had difficulty finding work after graduating from high school so decided to look for work out of state and found a job in Colorado. After a month in his new job, I was surprised to see him back in our little community saying, The people in Colorado are too strange. They’re not like the people in Minnesota. Instead of trailblazing a new life in a new location, he opted for the security and comfort of his home and moved in with his parents.

It’s difficult for me to wrap my head around why people would give up exploring the world and all it offers and settle for something that is known and the same old. I guess there are those who prefer comfort and idyllic over something new and exciting.

My parents both had their own businesses, and I must say they were hard workers putting in long hours, at the expense of their children and family unity Father owned a bar and my mother owned a café. Nothing out of the ordinary just small-town establishments where local inhabitants would congregate to discuss the latest gossip, have a family-style meal, and talk about the weather and the impact on crops. The hot topic during the morning hours in my father’s bar—when the farmers, dressed in their bib overalls trailing the smells of the farm with every step, brought their wives to town for shopping—was the hog report, the price corn was getting per bushel in the marketplace. The townsmen would sit and drink a glass of beer or two, talking for hours until the wives came and rapped on the bar windows for their husbands to take them home.

You see, the townswomen would not be seen in my father’s establishment, as entering a bar was something a good Christian woman would never do and went against the moral code of the community and the church. The church would not sanction my father’s bar but saw it as a place where sinful acts were generated. If a woman did enter my father’s bar, the town would become aware of it immediately, and that person’s behavior would be labeled as unacceptable. Of course, there were always those women who could care less what everyone else in the town thought of them. Interestingly, it was those women I admired the most. One woman in particular became good friends with our family as we were growing up. We loved her for being so real and honest. She lived on what might be considered the wrong side of the tracks as they say, for the railroad split the town in half’ the haves lived on one side, and the have-nots lived on the other. There was really no difference between the haves and have-nots; it was just a way of labeling someone and sitting them in a nice, little comfortable box. Why is it so important to have a community where people are not all thought of as the same? Where some consider themselves better or higher up on the chain of importance?

This family friend was a gregarious extrovert, who was a hard worker and loved to party, so would whoop it up every Saturday evening at the local hangout and sing, dance, and drink until she was well into her seventies. Then on Sunday mornings, she would be in church as pious as the rest of the townspeople with a clear conscience and a pure heart. How could you not love her? She said, if people wanted to talk about her, let them. And if they didn’t like it, they could kiss her ass. If there ever was a place called heaven, I am sure she is there still whooping it up.

My father inherited the bar from his father, who ran it during the war, along with the town’s movie house. Grandfather’s businesses were very profitable during those years; two of the most popular escape mechanisms for drowning one’s worries about the Depression and war were drinking alcohol and losing oneself in the fantasy of Hollywood movies. Rumor had it that my grandfather made so much money during the war years that he was the only inhabitant of the town who was able to buy a new black Cadillac. People would rib him. Yeah! Old man Schneider made so much money during the war he bought a brand-new black Cadillac while everyone else drove old, dilapidated autos. I don’t know if the comments were just good-natured ribbing or said tinged with jealousy.

Our family was rather large, with a mother and father and seven children—four boys and three girls. I was the second oldest and the first boy. Which relegated me to certain responsibilities and obligations. When I tell people there were seven children in our family, the familiar response is usually. You must be Catholic. That comment always embarrassed me. And I’m sure my cheeks turned bright red, even if it was the truth, as I concluded that the way it was spoken, even in jest, had a feeling of condescension. The truth, I must confess, is that, for my parents, any form of birth control was forbidden, and the sex act was synonymous with procreation and not something you did or enjoyed for pleasure, according to the Catholic Church anyway. Your purpose in life was to create babies, period, whether you could afford it or not. This was the rule for anyone growing up in a conservative Christian environment where religion dominated and controlled a considerable amount of your behavior, specifically as it related to family and sex.

My parents made an effort to conform to the role they were required to play as dutiful parents, by being present and doing the things parenting required, like establishing a secure and loving household. But with seven children, something changed, as if they could no longer handle the responsibilities of raising those seven children. They made an effort during those early years. But with the pressures of family life, a new reality began to take hold, which caused a distancing between family members. The task of raising a family would be taxing for anyone, and my parents as well found it difficult at times. Raising children and managing two business enterprises was daunting and resulted in fracturing of the family unit. It got to such a point that we were basically raising ourselves, as both our mother and father were working seven days a week, sometimes up to twelve hours a day. I know my parents gave it their all, but like everything else, there is a breaking point for everything; and when that breaking point arrives, it is difficult to keep things in line.

My parents were influenced by their religion, that being the Catholic Church. We were required to go to church every Sunday and on holy days, as well as say prayers before each meal and before we went to bed. My parents tried to have us recite the rosary in the evenings, but it became too much of a hassle to control seven children for a half hour without moving or speaking. As I came to understand the relationship my parents had in raising a family under strict Catholic attitudes about morality and sex, I became more accepting of their decisions in life. Later on in life, I saw how the Catholic Church had imprisoned my parents. I accepted it but could not forgive the church for having so much control over them and me.

The Birth of Religion

The hands that help are better than lips that pray.

—Robert Green Ingersoll

Growing up in the Christian faith, I knew our beginnings went back two thousand plus years to the birth of Jesus. But what about before that? I knew the Greeks and Romans had polytheistic religions with numerous gods who held various responsibilities and guided the Greek and Roman populations in their daily routines. The gods of ancient Egypt, like Isis and Osiris, were also polytheistic and put great emphasis on the relationship of the afterlife of Egyptians. But what about the birth of religion? How did it develop and why? This requires going back further than the pyramids to find answers, and those answers can only come from anthropologists and other science professions.

So, where did this connection to the otherworldly spirit world come from? How far back did it go and how and why had it evolved into what we know today as religion? There are a lot of explanations that people have put forth to try and explain the birth and life of religion over the centuries. One of the best and probably the most plausible is the explanation that it serves the purpose of giving answers to questions we had never been able to answer. But that’s not the only explanation people have given.

While still a youngster, I read books and programs that depicted medicine men, seers, witch doctors, shamans, and other spiritualistic humans going into a trance after taking drugs and becoming the spokesperson for the universe of the unknown and outer world. Therefore, it’s possible religion came about as a result of taking drugs and having out-of-body experiences. People who took hallucinogenic substances had visions they ended up interpreting as a message from the great beyond. Some shamans and witch doctors took drugs to be closer to the gods or communicate with them to make decisions. Perhaps they didn’t always take these drugs on purpose, so it makes sense that their interpretations had to do with divine beings.

Another explanation says that religion started as a way of explaining the natural phenomena that had no logical interpretations. Some phenomena were harder for people to explain and accept, like lightning and thunder. People couldn’t find a logical way to interpret these, and that led them to create gods. So, then those gods were the ones who caused the phenomena that people couldn’t rationally explain. This created an answer easily explained and easily grasped by the human mind.

The rise of religion also seems like a kind of idol worship. People even started to worship and idolize certain figures for their words and actions. This adoration led people to create religions based on those figures. It was a polytheistic religion with sun gods, rain gods, gods of the hunt, and even spiritual entities living inside and taking over the existence of the animals it represented.

And finally, religion showed up as a cognitive adaptation. These are mental functions, processes like understanding, inference, decision-making, planning, and learning. This is one of the most acceptable viewpoints within the realms of biology and psychology.

These explanations are all suppositions on how early religions evolved. So now let’s look at religion from a scientific probability—the development of religion through anthropology.

Anthropological look at religion

Most anthropologists agree that, as the brain grew and became more sophisticated and complex and certain elements became evident, the brain developed a consciousness and a need to communicate and develop ritualist practices. To do that, we need to go back to humanity’s closest living relatives, which are common chimpanzees and bonobos.¹ These primates share a common ancestor with humans who lived between six and eight million years ago. It is for this reason that chimpanzees and bonobos are viewed as the best available surrogate for this common ancestor. Barbara King argues that, while nonhuman primates are not religious, they do exhibit some traits that would have been necessary for the evolution of religion. These traits include high intelligence, a capacity for symbolic communication, a sense of social norms, realization of self of continuity.² There is inconclusive evidence that Homo neanderthalensis may have buried their dead, which is evidence of the use of ritual. The use of burial rituals is thought to be evidence of religious activity, and there is no other evidence that religion existed in human culture before humans reached behavioral modernity.³ Other evidence has revealed that Homo neanderthalensis made cave art, which would be a manner of symbolic thinking comparable to the manner required for religious thought.⁴

Relevant prerequisites for human religion

Increased brain size

In this set of theories, the religious mind is one consequence of a brain that is large enough to formulate religious and philosophical ideas.⁵ During human evolution, the hominid brain tripled in size, peaking 500,000 years ago. Much of the brain’s expansion took place in the neocortex (the frontal part of the brain). The cerebral neocortex is presumed to be responsible for the neural computations underlying complex phenomena such as perception, thought, language, attention, episodic memory, and voluntary movement.⁶

Stephen Jay Gould suggests religion may have grown out of evolutionary changes that favored larger brains as a means of cementing group coherence among savannah hunters. Afterward, that larger brain enabled reflection on the inevitability of personal mortality.⁷

Tool use

Lewis Wolpert argues that causal beliefs that emerged from tool use played a major role in the evolution of belief. The manufacture of complex tools requires creating a mental image of an object that doesn’t exist naturally before actually making the artifact. Furthermore, one must understand how the tool would be used, which requires an understanding of causality.⁸

Wolpert contends use of tools composed of more than one component, such as hand axes, represents an ability to understand cause and effect. However, recent studies of other primates indicate that causality may not be a uniquely human trait.

Development of language

Religion requires a system of symbolic communication, such as language, to be transmitted from one individual to another. Philip Lieberman states, Human religious thought and moral sense clearly rest on a cognitive-linguistic base.⁹ From this premise, science writer Nicholas Wade states:

Like most behaviors that are found in societies throughout the world, religion must have been present in the ancestral human population before the dispersal from Africa 50,000 years ago. Although religious rituals usually involve dance and music, they are also very verbal, since the sacred truths have to be stated. If so, religion, at least in its modern form, cannot pre-date the emergence of language. It has been argued earlier that language attained its modern state shortly before the exodus from Africa. If religion had to await the evolution of modern, articulate language, then it too would have emerged shortly before 50,000 years ago.¹⁰

Morality and group living

Frans de Waal and Barbara King both view human morality as having grown out of primate sociality. Although mortality awareness may be a unique human trait, many social animals, such as primates, dolphins, and whales, have been known to exhibit premoral sentiments. According to Michael Shermer, the following characteristics are shared by humans and other social animals, particularly the great apes—attachment and bonding, cooperation and mutual aid, sympathy and empathy, direct and indirect reciprocity, and altruism and reciprocal altruism. We share conflict resolution and peacemaking, deception and deception detection, community concern, and caring about what others think about you, and awareness of and response to the social rules of the group.

De Waal contends that all social animals have had to restrain or alter their behavior for group living to be worthwhile. Premoral sentiments evolved in primate societies as a method of restraining individual selfishness and building more cooperative groups. For any social species, the benefits of being part of an altruistic group should outweigh the benefits of individualism.

Psychologist Matt J. Rossano argues that religion emerged after morality and built upon morality by expanding the social scrutiny of individual behavior to include supernatural agents. By including ever-watchful ancestors, spirits, and gods in the social realm, humans discovered an effective strategy for restraining selfishness and building more cooperative groups.¹¹ The adaptive value of religion would have enhanced group survival.¹² Rossano is referring here to collective religious belief and the social sanction that institutionalized morality. According to Rossano’s teaching, individual religious belief is, thus, initially epistemological, not ethical, in nature.

Evolutionary psychology of religion

Cognitive scientists underlined that religions may be explained as a result of the brain architecture that developed early in the genus Homo, through the history of life. Gould, for example, believed that religion was an exaptation or a spandrel—in other words, that religion evolved as a byproduct of psychological mechanisms that evolved for other reasons.¹³

Some scholars have suggested that religion is genetically hardwired into the human condition. One controversial proposal, the God gene hypothesis, states that some variants of a specific gene, the VMAT2 gene, predispose us to spirituality.¹⁴

Prehistoric evidence of religion

The exact time when humans first became religious remains unknown. However, research in evolutionary archaeology shows credible evidence of religious-come-ritualistic behavior from around the Middle Paleolithic era (200,000 to 45,000 years ago).¹⁵

Paleolithic burials

The earliest evidence of religious thought is based on the ritual treatment of the dead. Ritual burial, thus, represents a significant change in human behavior. Ritual burials represent an awareness of life and death and a possible belief in the afterlife. Philip Lieberman states, Burials with grave goods clearly signify religious practices and concern for the dead that transcends daily life.¹⁶

The earliest evidence for treatment of the dead comes from Atapuerca in Spain. At this location, the bones of thirty individuals believed to be Homo heidelbergensis have been found in a pit.¹⁷ Neanderthals are also contenders for the first hominids to intentionally bury the dead. They may have placed corpses into shallow graves along with stone tools connected to the deceased, possibly indicating a belief in the afterlife. Neanderthal burial sites include Shanidar in Iraq and Krapina in Croatia and Kebara Cave in Israel.¹⁸

The earliest known burial of modern humans is from a cave in Israel located at Qafzeh. Human remains have been dated to 100,000 years ago. Human skeletons were found stained with red ochre. A variety