[ExI] Ants for spike! Dawkins and Wilson

[spike]

> ...On Behalf Of Max More
> ...
>  
> >http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/weekinreview/12wade.html?_r=1
> >
> >The Evolution of the God Gene
> >Nicholas Wade
> ...
> 
> Which reminds of something else that bothered me in Wade's 
> piece: He uses "religion" as if it were a simple phenomenon, 
> rather than a fuzzy collection of beliefs, practices, and 
> communities...

Ja.  The subtleties of religion quickly become so wildly complicated that I
dispair of our ever being able to create a computer model sufficiently
advanced to even start to make correct predictions about its propagation and
life cycle.

>... Evolutionary pressures probably have different 
> degrees of influence for difference components of "religion". 
> I don't see why, for instance, (a) shared beliefs 
> strengthening social bonds should be treated exactly the same 
> as (b) worship of and obeisance to a higher power.  Max
...

I can see that and raise you one.  My own experience in that area is with a
particular religion that is not only a belief system but also very much a
culture.  When one is immersed in that culture, it soon becomes apparent to
the analytical type, that acceptance of the culture is actually more
important than actual belief in, or worship of, the particular higher power.

As paradoxical as it might sound, I can assure you, there are such things as
Seventh Day Atheists.  There is a peculiar culture that grows around
traditional SDA, such as healthy living, eschewing alcohol, traditional
family life, the structure of social bonds within the subculture and so
forth.  If the Seventh Day Atheist holds to the social culture but rejects
the deity, they are accepted and tolerated by the believers much more
readily than those who actually hold the beliefs but reject the culture.

Observations or questions welcome on these comments.

spike