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question 4: can biology explain god?

Is man an image of God or is God a human invention? Leaving aside whether you're a believer or not, it's interesting to ask why so many people believe in God. Can we learn anything from biology?

Text by Eva Krutmeijer

"We are the only animals who are aware that they're going to die", says Peter Gärdenfors, professor at the department of philosophy at Lund University in Sweden.

He points out that this has had enormous consequences:

"In many respects, being human is all about realizing that one day life will end."

Is the belief in life after death a way of dealing with this?

"Religion is a universal human phenomenon. You find creation myths in all cultures, explanations of life and death, the truly great questions. And many people turn to religion to seek meaning in existence, particularly in times of grief."

If religion exists in all cultures, is it inborn? - inherited? Can evolution explain why religion exists? Professor Gärdenfors gives us his view:

"You can see religion as something that cements society together. It increases a group's survival chances by improving cohesion and co-operation. The better a group co-operates, the better adapted it is to its environment compared to those who are outside the group. This requires a system of morals, a common view of what's right and wrong. Religion provides the guiding rules. One example is the golden rule of Christianity."

But the golden rule says you should behave altruistically, that you should treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself. How can that favour the individual?

"It works well provided you're among people who think the way you do. It reinforces the group and hence the individual's chances of survival. People help each other. When you care about the others in the group a we-feeling is created and this acts as a protective barrier against the ‘others'."

Professor Gärdenfors continues:

"Small communities can work in self-organizing ways thanks to religion. Take small hunter-gatherer communities, for example. People are very careful to divide the catch fairly."

So religion ensures that we behave decently to each other because of its traditions and rules? It ensures that we don't just think of ourselves?

Exactly. Peter Gärdenfors sums up:

"You can see religion as a means of protecting people from their own egoism."

Film by Gustav von Arbin

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