#156 – An expert’s proposal for this religion-making software in my brain

In addition to enhancing hominid survival and reproduction, this software equipped us to become aware of and look for the Transcendent.

Once again we’re asking the question: “why do we have this cognitive machinery in our head that predisposes humans to having spiritual experiences and religion-making?” But this time we talked to a scholar on the subject.

We could have talked to a neurobiologist or psychologist (in addition to the handful we’ve already heard from; #43, #44, #45, #78, #152) … a paleontologist (we’ve had a couple of those as well; #77 and #72) … or a literary scholar who reads ancient texts and clay tablets.  But we chose to talk to a philosopher/theologian.  You see, scientists study the physical, but in the process of being reductive, often include a metaphysical claim that there is no ultimate reality beyond the physical world.  But that’s a metaphysical claim, not something that can be tested in the physical realm, so they can’t / shouldn’t be making that claim.  Philosophers/theologians, on the other hand, take a step back and look at the big picture, and are free to openly and honestly make the metaphysical assumption that there is a God (or not) when trying to make sense of the data.  Both groups can learn much from each other.

Our guest, Dr. Chris Barrigar, with a PhD in Philosophy and the pastor of a large church in Montreal, Quebec, has talked on our podcast before about big metaphysical things.  You can hear about his fascinating journey through Evangelical Christianity, then Buddhism, then atheism, and finally back to Evangelical Christianity in Episode #29.  And then in episode #30, we heard him talk about the ultimate meaning behind the universe! This week, we stumbled upon a paper he just published [“Evolutionary accounts of religion within a Christian account of Big History,” in Perspectives in Science and Christian Faith, 76(1): 35-54, 2024] which explored in great detail all the points we made and the questions we asked last week!?

Chris first walked us through some background material from two books authored by two prominent anthropologists.

One of these (Dr. E. Fuller Torrey, a clinical psychiatrist with graduate training in anthropology) outlined a series of seven or eight different cognitive advances that occurred in the minds of ancient hominids over the course of several million years.  They first evolved through progressively higher levels of intelligence until they eventually became self aware (a sense of self), then morphed that awareness into an ability to step into someone else’s mind (theory of mind, or empathy).  They also began to develop a sense of past and future, which eventually got them thinking about ancestors, and then about the afterlife.  That in turn set the stage for them imagining/creating gods and deities, moral/ethical laws, and finally religion-making.

The second author (Dr. Robin Dunbar, an anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist) outlined a different evolutionary time-line.  In particular, he focused on humans as paleolithic hunter/gatherers in Africa fifty thousand years ago, who migrated into Europe and Asia to become neolithic farmers/settlers in large cities ten thousand years ago. The transition from migrating bands of fifty to settled cities of five thousand required massive changes in cognitive ability, as well as a lot of rule-making (morality; ethics; religion).

Many “New Atheists” such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens see religion as harmful, and maladaptive. But Dunbar concluded that, given how much time and energy it took to develop and maintain a religious mind and behavior, there has to be something evolutionarily useful about it.  And being inclined to rule out anything metaphysical, he proposed that it was somehow useful for reproduction and survival.  Torrey, on the other hand, couldn’t identify a clear evolutionary advantage, nor a reason to see it as maladaptive, and so concluded that this cognitive machinery is just an evolutionary spandrel.

Dr. Chris Barrigar, on the other hand, remained open to metaphysical possibilities, and found that, in addition to being useful for survival and reproduction, this evolutionary process has been directed toward the appearance of and flourishing of intelligent, agape-capable beings who are equipped for relationship.  For Chris, this interpretation/proposal is far richer and more intellectually and existentially satisfying for explaining so much about humanity, than the conclusion that it was merely for survival and reproduction (or an accident).

We discussed how this cognitive machinery is universal in that we see it in all humans across all societies and periods of human history. But it’s also very vague and imprecise: it doesn’t point humans specifically to one transcendent being (for example, the Judeo-Christian God), but to something beyond the physical … “something bigger than us.” 

As always, tell us your thoughts on this topic …

If you enjoyed this episode, you may also enjoy our previous conversation with Dr. Chris Barrigar, when he explained to us the meaning behind the universe. Or check out our other episodes which focus on the cognitive machinery in our heads: you can find those at our theme page entitled “Religious experiences, spiritual encounters.”

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