To most people, religions are a matter of belief and spirituality. They exist to provide a guide on how to live, how to perceive the world and on what will happen when death finally knocks on the door. But if a step is taken back, there is another perhaps more interesting picture that can be seen. If viewed with a lack of religious bias, it can be suggested that evolution applies to religion as much as to organisms.

In many ways, the people within a particular religion could be said to take on the characteristics of a species. Instead of inheriting traits through genes, parents pass on these qualities through the religious doctrine in which they believe. If a hypothetical religion encouraged large numbers of offspring, naturally the population of that religion would grow. But other factors apply as well.

Although it seems common sense to us now, human sacrifice was once a practice found within some religions. But even then, the numbers of sacrifices from the population of the believers was never terribly large. And it is nearly unanimous in modern religions that killing (within their own religion) is not condoned if the individual conforms to societal and religious norms. Examining this, the obvious begins to assert itself. Any religion that did follow the practice of needlessly wasting its population in a non productive manner would lose out in competition. In the long run religions who keep the larger percent of their population would be given an advantage.

While it makes sense not to condone violence against your own, it does makes sense when it is violence aimed at competing religions. Due to the nature that humans isolated within one religion for the majority of their lives are unlikely converts, it makes sense that combat was the most effective solution to dealing with competition. By destroying a competing religion, more resources would become available for the victors population to make use of.

While these examples are extremely simplified, it gives an interesting basis for the discussion of why our society exists the way it does today. In the past, this "Religious Evolution" would have been far more prevalent since societies were mostly bound within religious boundaries. Further developments and analysis of modern culture becomes increasingly more complex as society and religion separated and began to interact with one another. It will be interesting to see what the final result is.

Learn more about this author, Jackson Buckle.
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