Richard Dawkins and other authors have recently claimed, in their
scholarly books, that religious belief is an "instinct," because all
primitive tribes have religions (without exception). And more than
half of highly civilized people also believe in various gods. However,
it's not necessary that a separate instinct causes this almost-
universal religious belief.

Then why, if religion is not a separate instinct, do so many people
"believe," even though prayers are not directly answered, and many
regularly-praying people have terrible luck (starvation, disease,
floods, etc.)?

My explanation is that, instead of a religion instinct, there are 3
other instincts that fit together and cause this phenomenon. I claim
they are truly "instincts" because lower animals have them also.

1. We have instinctive dreams. My dog sometimes barked a little bit
and moved his legs during dreams, so involuntary imagination is an
instinct. In addition, humans also have voluntary imagination
including complex thoughts (such as the ones in this little essay).
Here's how they can fit together to form a religion:  after dreaming
about a dead ancestor, it would be natural for a strong-leader type of
human to announce it to the tribe, and get some personal benefit from
a new religion that he then could then start. This included the idea
that it was his ancestor's spirit who announced in last night's dream
that a beneficial rain would come soon, ending the recent drought. The
rain arrived this morning. ("Just put some money in my basket, please,
and we won't have any more droughts this month, at least until the
next full moon.")

2. We all tend toward believing cause-and-effect explanations. My dog
knew very well that I was causing his food dish to get filled and then
pushed toward him. And he knew that I caused his toy to roll toward
him. So cause-and-effect cognition is an instinct, advantageous to
survival, and we have it also.

3. A "herd instinct" leads us to form tribes. Sheep and elephants
follow the herd behavior (including a strong leader), and humans do
also. There are evolutionary advantages to survival of a tribe, in
famines, wars, etc. (Even I have felt the comfort of "belonging,"
although I'm generally not much of a conformist.)

Note that this essay does not claim the true existence or non-
existence of God or gods, just the reasons for widespread belief.
Incidentally, tribal membership sometimes gets separated from its old
religion --- being Jewish is more of a tribal thing than a religion,
among politically leftist people.

If you agree with most of this, please tell other people the web
address. If you are curious, you could also briefly see my note about
the Jensenhurst Parable, at
http://oldnnew.blogspot.com .

Dan Shanefield, Retired engineering professor
http://homepage.mac.com/shanefield