Nature herself has imprinted on the minds of all the idea of God- Cicero
This long dead Roman orator knew nothing about evolution, yet the above quote was remarkably close to the mark. Cicero was not the only one to conclude that something in our natures predisposes us towards religion. It is not the idea of God though, that Nature has imprinted on our minds, but a belief in the supernatural. Spirituality is the realm of things which lie outside the normal laws of nature, including magic, spirits, ghosts, and the soul.
Spirituality, the keystone of all religions, stretches back over two million years, and is as old as the human race: it is in fact genetically inherited, or instinctive. We are predisposed to believe in spirits.
The brain of primordial man wasn't capable of even framing the idea of God. It was however, capable of simple acceptance of spirits. Once reasoning abilities had developed enough, attempts to put the spirit world into some sort of heirarchy would see spirituality culturally morph into religion.
Religion builds upon this instinct to believe in spirits. Without a belief in spirits, a belief in a Great Spirit, or God, would be impossible. Religion would be a non-starter. Because religion has evolved in this way, it harbours a lot of evolutionary mental baggage capable of causing serious harm in today's modern world. Attempts to correct some of these ills, or even to point them out, have been mostly fruitless.
As many atheists, agnostics, rationalists, humanists, free thought advocates and other concerned groups have found out, it is difficult to get anywhere by attacking irrational beliefs with logical arguments. Religion is based upon faith and instinct, not rationality. It is not, in fact, simply some strange way of thinking, as many atheists seem to regard it. On the contrary, it is entirely natural.
International best selling books such as Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion and Christopher Hitchens’ God is Not Great do a fine job of demolishing religion on an intellectual basis. Yet these high profile authors seem to regard religion as some sort of faulty thinking pattern, which can be corrected once they explain its errors. This seriously underestimates the problem.
The problem of religion can only be addressed by understanding how spirituality evolved, and why it eventually led to religion. Then, it is necessary to see how religion has been shaped by evolution and history. Only then may an antidote be formulated.
Mainstream atheist books and websites don't address this critical distinction between spirituality and religion. Consequently, they do not see how religion has hijacked the immensely older spirituality instinct. This failure to differentiate between the spirituality instinct and religion leads to the usual atheist stance that religion survives by being passed on through a culture and from father to son. This is a totally inadequate way to explain why religion persists in today's modern world.
Spirituality was being passed on genetically before any father even had the ability to speak! See All about instincts for more detail.
It is entirely natural to have spiritual feelings. Indeed, it is not natural to be an atheist. To be an informed atheist is a modern intellectual decision and is not an easy thing. It involves a battle with the spirituality instinct, and some will find this harder than others. It is also not enough to simply abandon religion without consideration of the various human needs it is perceived to fill.
Damaging religious credos must be replaced by a superior moral code, and ideally, a belief set that is more in tune with our spirituality instinct, but without any erroneous baggage. Atheists would do well to spend more time on this, and less time simply attacking the idea of God.
There is another problem. Quite apart from reluctance to accept spirituality as an instinct, many people do not credit the extent to which instincts in general govern their lives. Yet anytime you do something rash, or feel impelled toward some action that is not entirely rational, you may be sure that instincts have had an impact on that decision.
Finally, it is not the idea of God that does so much damage: it is the type of God being peddled by organised religions. Religion has diverged from the spirituality instinct to the point where many otherwise spiritual people are casting about for alternative religions. They know they crave something spiritual, but they don't know why, or what to turn to.
That's why everyone who has concerns over how religion has impacted on their lives should read The Atheist's Guide and God Replacement Therapy: not just atheists!
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