Book Reviews

Reviewed by Lily Bond

As a person of faith, I felt fascinated by this book's title, The Faith Instinct: How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures (2009, Penguin Press, 285 pages). I decided to read and expected positive enlightenment.

Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed. Author Nicholas Wade claims to try to explain the evolutionary aspect of religious behavior. On a scientific basis, he fails.

A British-born scientific reporter, editor and author, Wade works for The New York Times. Earlier, he was deputy editor of Nature magazine in London and reported for the prestigious Science magazine. From a respected science scholar, I expected a much more scientific book.

The Faith Instinct discusses religion more on a social and cultural basis. When science arises, the script fills with “maybe” and “probably”. “From this perspective, one can begin to see how crucial religion may have been.... There seems to be neural circuitries for morality.... The genetic component of the process probably shapes the specialized neural circuits or modules in the brain....” This inspires little confidence in the arguments.

Regardless, Wade holds fascinating ideas about religious behavior in human societies over many millennia. In the opening chapter, he tries to summarize religion. “From an evolutionary perspective, the following definition emerges: Religion is a system of emotionally binding beliefs and practices in which a society implicitly negotiates through prayer and sacrifice with supernatural agents, securing for them commands that compel members, through fear of divine punishment, to subordinate their interests to the common good.”

The evolutionary argument is that religion helped groups to survive through better cohesion. Presumably, groups without the religious DNA died out. Wade considers hunter-gatherer groups and uses Australian aboriginal people as the basis for how he assumes that hunter-gatherers behaved 50,000 years ago. The ancient practices included dance, trance and painful initiation rituals leading to rules and mores that bound people into strong cohesive groups.

Then Wade examines the origins of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. His views vary from most theologies. He shows how Judaism formed as a means for Jews to reinforce their identity as a nation. Apparently, Christianity grew out of Judaism, despite its founder, Jesus, not setting out to form a new religion. Many cults jostled for a place in society, and evidently Christianity expanded due to its basis of strong faith in salvation, hope, purity and faithfulness.

Wade argues that forming the canon in today's Christian holy text was very political, serving to reinforce power for Constantine who adopted Christianity as the state religion. Even so, divisions in the church between Rome and Constantinople weakened the empire until it fell to invading barbarians.

Wade discusses the rise of Islam as an Arab means to gain power and identity. He builds on “revisionist” ideas that show Islam grew out of Judaism and Christianity and questions if Muhammad ever existed. He believes the Qu'ran was written over a long time and that, like parts of the Jewish scriptures, it aimed to establish Arab legitimacy and power.

The author examines other religions, including those of the Aztecs and some African tribes. In these cases, religions involved huge sacrifices that caused societies to fall, not survive, which counters the evolutionary argument.

Regardless, Wade sticks to a constant theme that religions bind people into cohesive groups, ensuring their survival. Then he considers religion's role in warfare, reasoning that commitment to a divine being leads people to sacrifice their lives for a higher cause.

Interestingly, Wade writes that few wars have truly religious causes. Many appear religious, but have more to do with desires for national identity, land and power. Religion provides a powerful pretext. Wade says the details of training for military cohesion come from the hunter-gatherer religious behavior of trance and dance. Long drills, rhythmic marching and shared pain bind soldiers, readying them to obey orders and risk death.

The author looks at modern trends in religious adherence, including why belief in God has waned in Europe while staying strong in much of the United States. “Human societies have several kinds of linkage, but religion is the only one that binds people on an emotional level, signaling who has common values and whose values are alien.... religion confers an indivisible identity. Religion remains the essential means whereby people associate in solidarity with one another and in defense against their adversaries.”

In the modern age, religion falls prey to scientific explanations for what once was deemed spiritual. Still, Wade maintains that “the essential element of religious knowledge, from an evolutionary perspective, is not theology, but the practical rules of moral, military and reproductive behavior, the distilled collective wisdom of leaders past and present as to the guiding principles most likely to ensure a society’s survival”.

Wade neither confirms, nor denies, the existence of “God". He says the idea that evolution put a faith instinct in us has no bearing on whether a god exists. He adds that morality and integrity have their roots in religion. Although atheists may disagree, even their morality comes from past ingrained religious standards. He suggests that modern humans aren't influenced by evolution, but by choice, and that religion needs flexibility to meet their needs.

At times, I struggled to finish this book, and I doubt if it achieved the author's purpose. He showed that humans are religious, that societies developed morals and rules out of religious beliefs, that wars long have used religion as a pretext and that religion still holds sway in many cultures. But I still debate whether all this results from evolutionary development.