At the beginning of the 21st Century it is clear that 'religion' is a social phenomenon, an outcome of social evolution that is reaching a crisis point or apostasies. The evidence points to the conclusion that all major religions evolved in response to the urgent needs of society to rectify and reduce corruption and find meaning and support in difficult times. Religion also manifested in response to the need to fulfil a desperate craving for immortality and to explain the how and why of life's presence on this planet.
In essence, religions evolved to confirm the existence of an infinitely wise and powerful creator and the nature of creation.
However, at the beginning of the third millennium these raison d'etres are fast disappearing. The set of ethical and moral principles that coevolved as part of all religions are beginning to pass their use-by date. They are now taken as a given, encoded in legal conventions and entrenched as basic human rights by most societies. These early ethical and moral frameworks, enshrined in religion, are now generally accepted on a broad scale by peoples of all societies. Though still valid, they have now become mainstream.
The Ten commandments of Christianity; the Book of Life of Confucianism and the Koran of Islam, all provide a basis for the ethical and moral values of human behaviour; establishing 'good' codes of conduct which encapsulate the moral structure of future society. These were the norms that created the original basis for a future civil society.
But the great Chinese philosopher Lao-Tze, did not postulate a set of rules; rather he created a set of insights or self-organising principles by which society could evolve. Jesus Christ did a similar thing. Some of the early rules are now dated, as are the early theories of the physical universe, but many of the core truths remain valid. They were the encapsulation of wisdom by forward and radical thinkers of an earlier time. However, repeating them like a mantra doesn't enhance their validity. These early ethical principles evolved in response to the survival and potential needs of human society over the past 20 millennia. They will continue to evolve in response to tomorrow's needs.
By adopting literally what was enshrined in books over two thousand years ago, we are rejecting the capacity of humans to continue to adapt and learn and their ability to improve all processes. Ethical and moral principles will continue to evolve and of course have already done so. The meta-wisdom of 2000 years ago was invaluable to human progress, but like everything else it must continue to evolve in order to be relevant to future human societies; reflecting their requirements to a more relevant degree..
The need to find a creator is also rapidly reaching its use-by date. Evolution, quantum cosmology, the Big Bang etc, have all conspired to push the early metaphysical cosmogonies into the background of mythology. Even the ‘god of the gaps’ is in full retreat. The Pope now begrudgingly accepts Darwin and Galileo into the theological fold and the Big Bang has become the new moment of creation. But what created the Big Bang? Certainly not a god- just as a god did not create an earthquake or a flood or the earth.
Today's scientific explanations instead favour a quantum phenomena which triggered a rapid expansionary process, powered by a huge energy field. The use of a god, substituting in a causal context for real intellectual analysis does not explain anything. It is just a substitute for currently unknown causes- an intellectual cop-out. The big bang itself may be just one of an infinite number of creation events, each engineered by the evolutionary process through a recycling of energy. Whatever the cause, it does not advance human understanding by eternally repeating the nostrum that a god was responsible for it.
There appears to be no limit at this point in time to life's ability to acquire new knowledge. As seemingly insurmountable problems arise, new and novel techniques co-evolve to push the knowledge barrier back further. Therefore the God notion will continue to recede and attenuate. There have been periodic predictions that the number of new theories will eventually peter out. But this has been proved nonsensical. The ever-evolving Theories of Everything, marking the quest for the ultimate building blocks of the universe, is not the end of the search- just the beginning of our intellectual odyssey. One can understand religion’s past evolutionary benefit, but it is probably of greater benefit to humanity to now examine other equally optimistic but more rational scenarios for life's outcomes
The ‘god' concept on the other hand is basically an excuse for intellectual laziness. It is also a dead end as far as the knowledge discovery process goes. Having served its social purpose it is now not adding any new knowledge to human enlightenment, although it still offers a significant proportion of humanity with comfort. Cold comfort however when a tsunami strikes or its leaders are found to be complicit in criminal abuse against its most vulnerable believers.
A personal god has been a popular figment of the imagination for a long time; eternally and totally supportive of the lucky recipients of its beneficence. As with a personal trainer, a god will look after an individual's needs providing that person remains subservient to it; lavishing gifts and praise and asking for forgiveness, for real or imagined sins. A personal god is invoked by salesmen, politicians and the wealthy, as well as the poor, to guarantee longevity, redemption and overall success in their everyday lives.
Provided all protocols are carried out as required, the god will grant the acolyte special favours, such as ensuring continuation of life or in the best American new age tradition, making the individual seriously rich; while millions of the less privileged dye of starvation, AIDS or wars. The big payoff however- the glittering prize, is immortality. This means making it big time.
Immortality, Nirvana, Heaven is the potential pinnacle of life's attainment. For the wealthy it represents risk minimisation- to get to keep what they have acquired on earth. For the poor it represents their only chance to attain wealth and equality- all that they missed out on in their earthly life. At the most basic level it is a classic reward system, rewarding good behaviour and punishing evil as prescribed in all religions, combined with the carrot of eternal life.
Religion is at different times a great comfort to the deprived, oppressed, aged and infirm, but it doesn't solve their problems. In fact it often blocks progress as evidenced by the Hindu caste system, which decrees that the lower caste must remain at the lowest level of the social hierarchy, in the cause of social stability. Those who have had reduced opportunities in this life, such as the members of a lower caste, carry the hope of future equality. Those who have acquired substantial wealth sustain the hope of retaining it.
The afterlife, however, is not what it used to be. Not many now believe that the celestial fairy light canopy is the home of angels. Fewer and fewer believe that the prophet Jesus was immortal and not too many believe that the souls of sinners will burn in hell.
Heaven and Hell are increasingly seen to be metaphors, extremes of the spectrum of possibilities; a method of dispensing final justice in order to keep ethical and moral constraints on society, while at the same time maintaining the power of religious brokers. Even amongst the most rational there is a deep belief that those guilty of atrocities on earth must somehow receive a measure of justice in the afterlife and that innate goodness and truth will eventually be rewarded.
Unfortunately to date there is no hard evidence suggesting that this is the case; or that an afterlife exists except in our imagination. The need for an afterlife is however deeply ingrained. It obviously assists in the survival of the species at the most basic level, in terms of the need for nurture. At a deep level it provides the bonding so essential for the cohesion of the family, tribe or group.
For most animal species there is a dominant leader from which the group derives its strength and guidance. In the human species this is no less true, with the emergence of both family and tribal leaders, whether patriarchal or matriarchal. Obviously a god plays a similar role, all-powerful and all-wise, positioned at the peak of the pyramid. If this super-leader does not physically exist, then it can be anthropomorphically created in the abstract. There is evidence that humans appear to have evolved neural structures that reinforce such a hierarchy.
Love for the gods or spiritual love is no less real however than physical love. But the need for spirituality is another matter altogether. Spirituality manifests as an innate yearning, a quest for a deeper love and true enlightenment, a feeling of the numinous and of wonderment. Did this need for spirituality evolve as other emotions and feelings did? No doubt! It evolved to push the bounds of human potential. Without the urge to comprehend the unknown, to understand the unknowable and revel in the thirst for love, truth and knowledge, evolution would be less effective and life would lack most of its essential drive. Spirituality doesn't need a god but it does need a mystery.
All religions also come complete with a set of ethical guidelines such as the Ten Commandments. Although each set evolved independently of religion, prophets were able to successfully distil this knowledge from the social discourse and incorporate it within a religious framework. The framework therefore received moral authority from the God-head.This usually had the desired effect of establishing its credibility.
Each ethical standard has a genesis and a long history of trial and error; a sifting out of the essentials forming the basis or bedrock for a society. Ethical rules all aim to extend human potential and foster equality, compassion and human understanding. They also represent the basis for the evolution of the formal legal edifice that circumscribes our life today.
The evolution of emotions such as virtue, altruism, guilt, sadness etc. are also intimately linked to ethical guidelines such as sacrifice of the few for the many, reflecting feedback from countless social interactions; their successes and failures.
In the future, Churches are likely to transform into social organisations, already a major part of their function; providing essential support for the sick, poor, alienated and disenfranchised. Most churches now provide social and economic support functions in many countries. Churches have also recently migrated to the cutting edge of human rights. Religious orders such as the Jesuits and Buddhist Monks have long championed human rights as an imperative of the morality of their religions.
If freed from the baggage of the 'god' notion, religion’s ideals of charity, social justice, morality, truth and wisdom are likely to be attained far more effectively in the future.
The future of religion is therefore not difficult to divine. Its evolutionary origins and purpose are clear. Its future rests on the adaptive and cumulative wisdom of humans – not gods
In essence, religions evolved to confirm the existence of an infinitely wise and powerful creator and the nature of creation.
However, at the beginning of the third millennium these raison d'etres are fast disappearing. The set of ethical and moral principles that coevolved as part of all religions are beginning to pass their use-by date. They are now taken as a given, encoded in legal conventions and entrenched as basic human rights by most societies. These early ethical and moral frameworks, enshrined in religion, are now generally accepted on a broad scale by peoples of all societies. Though still valid, they have now become mainstream.
The Ten commandments of Christianity; the Book of Life of Confucianism and the Koran of Islam, all provide a basis for the ethical and moral values of human behaviour; establishing 'good' codes of conduct which encapsulate the moral structure of future society. These were the norms that created the original basis for a future civil society.
But the great Chinese philosopher Lao-Tze, did not postulate a set of rules; rather he created a set of insights or self-organising principles by which society could evolve. Jesus Christ did a similar thing. Some of the early rules are now dated, as are the early theories of the physical universe, but many of the core truths remain valid. They were the encapsulation of wisdom by forward and radical thinkers of an earlier time. However, repeating them like a mantra doesn't enhance their validity. These early ethical principles evolved in response to the survival and potential needs of human society over the past 20 millennia. They will continue to evolve in response to tomorrow's needs.
By adopting literally what was enshrined in books over two thousand years ago, we are rejecting the capacity of humans to continue to adapt and learn and their ability to improve all processes. Ethical and moral principles will continue to evolve and of course have already done so. The meta-wisdom of 2000 years ago was invaluable to human progress, but like everything else it must continue to evolve in order to be relevant to future human societies; reflecting their requirements to a more relevant degree..
The need to find a creator is also rapidly reaching its use-by date. Evolution, quantum cosmology, the Big Bang etc, have all conspired to push the early metaphysical cosmogonies into the background of mythology. Even the ‘god of the gaps’ is in full retreat. The Pope now begrudgingly accepts Darwin and Galileo into the theological fold and the Big Bang has become the new moment of creation. But what created the Big Bang? Certainly not a god- just as a god did not create an earthquake or a flood or the earth.
Today's scientific explanations instead favour a quantum phenomena which triggered a rapid expansionary process, powered by a huge energy field. The use of a god, substituting in a causal context for real intellectual analysis does not explain anything. It is just a substitute for currently unknown causes- an intellectual cop-out. The big bang itself may be just one of an infinite number of creation events, each engineered by the evolutionary process through a recycling of energy. Whatever the cause, it does not advance human understanding by eternally repeating the nostrum that a god was responsible for it.
There appears to be no limit at this point in time to life's ability to acquire new knowledge. As seemingly insurmountable problems arise, new and novel techniques co-evolve to push the knowledge barrier back further. Therefore the God notion will continue to recede and attenuate. There have been periodic predictions that the number of new theories will eventually peter out. But this has been proved nonsensical. The ever-evolving Theories of Everything, marking the quest for the ultimate building blocks of the universe, is not the end of the search- just the beginning of our intellectual odyssey. One can understand religion’s past evolutionary benefit, but it is probably of greater benefit to humanity to now examine other equally optimistic but more rational scenarios for life's outcomes
The ‘god' concept on the other hand is basically an excuse for intellectual laziness. It is also a dead end as far as the knowledge discovery process goes. Having served its social purpose it is now not adding any new knowledge to human enlightenment, although it still offers a significant proportion of humanity with comfort. Cold comfort however when a tsunami strikes or its leaders are found to be complicit in criminal abuse against its most vulnerable believers.
A personal god has been a popular figment of the imagination for a long time; eternally and totally supportive of the lucky recipients of its beneficence. As with a personal trainer, a god will look after an individual's needs providing that person remains subservient to it; lavishing gifts and praise and asking for forgiveness, for real or imagined sins. A personal god is invoked by salesmen, politicians and the wealthy, as well as the poor, to guarantee longevity, redemption and overall success in their everyday lives.
Provided all protocols are carried out as required, the god will grant the acolyte special favours, such as ensuring continuation of life or in the best American new age tradition, making the individual seriously rich; while millions of the less privileged dye of starvation, AIDS or wars. The big payoff however- the glittering prize, is immortality. This means making it big time.
Immortality, Nirvana, Heaven is the potential pinnacle of life's attainment. For the wealthy it represents risk minimisation- to get to keep what they have acquired on earth. For the poor it represents their only chance to attain wealth and equality- all that they missed out on in their earthly life. At the most basic level it is a classic reward system, rewarding good behaviour and punishing evil as prescribed in all religions, combined with the carrot of eternal life.
Religion is at different times a great comfort to the deprived, oppressed, aged and infirm, but it doesn't solve their problems. In fact it often blocks progress as evidenced by the Hindu caste system, which decrees that the lower caste must remain at the lowest level of the social hierarchy, in the cause of social stability. Those who have had reduced opportunities in this life, such as the members of a lower caste, carry the hope of future equality. Those who have acquired substantial wealth sustain the hope of retaining it.
The afterlife, however, is not what it used to be. Not many now believe that the celestial fairy light canopy is the home of angels. Fewer and fewer believe that the prophet Jesus was immortal and not too many believe that the souls of sinners will burn in hell.
Heaven and Hell are increasingly seen to be metaphors, extremes of the spectrum of possibilities; a method of dispensing final justice in order to keep ethical and moral constraints on society, while at the same time maintaining the power of religious brokers. Even amongst the most rational there is a deep belief that those guilty of atrocities on earth must somehow receive a measure of justice in the afterlife and that innate goodness and truth will eventually be rewarded.
Unfortunately to date there is no hard evidence suggesting that this is the case; or that an afterlife exists except in our imagination. The need for an afterlife is however deeply ingrained. It obviously assists in the survival of the species at the most basic level, in terms of the need for nurture. At a deep level it provides the bonding so essential for the cohesion of the family, tribe or group.
For most animal species there is a dominant leader from which the group derives its strength and guidance. In the human species this is no less true, with the emergence of both family and tribal leaders, whether patriarchal or matriarchal. Obviously a god plays a similar role, all-powerful and all-wise, positioned at the peak of the pyramid. If this super-leader does not physically exist, then it can be anthropomorphically created in the abstract. There is evidence that humans appear to have evolved neural structures that reinforce such a hierarchy.
Love for the gods or spiritual love is no less real however than physical love. But the need for spirituality is another matter altogether. Spirituality manifests as an innate yearning, a quest for a deeper love and true enlightenment, a feeling of the numinous and of wonderment. Did this need for spirituality evolve as other emotions and feelings did? No doubt! It evolved to push the bounds of human potential. Without the urge to comprehend the unknown, to understand the unknowable and revel in the thirst for love, truth and knowledge, evolution would be less effective and life would lack most of its essential drive. Spirituality doesn't need a god but it does need a mystery.
All religions also come complete with a set of ethical guidelines such as the Ten Commandments. Although each set evolved independently of religion, prophets were able to successfully distil this knowledge from the social discourse and incorporate it within a religious framework. The framework therefore received moral authority from the God-head.This usually had the desired effect of establishing its credibility.
Each ethical standard has a genesis and a long history of trial and error; a sifting out of the essentials forming the basis or bedrock for a society. Ethical rules all aim to extend human potential and foster equality, compassion and human understanding. They also represent the basis for the evolution of the formal legal edifice that circumscribes our life today.
The evolution of emotions such as virtue, altruism, guilt, sadness etc. are also intimately linked to ethical guidelines such as sacrifice of the few for the many, reflecting feedback from countless social interactions; their successes and failures.
In the future, Churches are likely to transform into social organisations, already a major part of their function; providing essential support for the sick, poor, alienated and disenfranchised. Most churches now provide social and economic support functions in many countries. Churches have also recently migrated to the cutting edge of human rights. Religious orders such as the Jesuits and Buddhist Monks have long championed human rights as an imperative of the morality of their religions.
If freed from the baggage of the 'god' notion, religion’s ideals of charity, social justice, morality, truth and wisdom are likely to be attained far more effectively in the future.
The future of religion is therefore not difficult to divine. Its evolutionary origins and purpose are clear. Its future rests on the adaptive and cumulative wisdom of humans – not gods
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