9 - Why Should it Matter Whether There is a god?

There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.  - Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

In this post: Ongoing interest in the existence or nonexistence of god probably has to do with primary concerns of human existence. The human brain may actually be "wired" for some form of spirituality.

Given that, at least for the time being, there is no way to prove that there is or is not a god, why should we care?

It appears that many of us do care. Since self-consciousness became a feature of our species, people have imagined all sorts of gods, turning to them for protection against the vicissitudes of life, such as evil demons, animals, vicious weather and other catastrophes. Some of these gods were probably original creations, springing into the minds of especially creative people. Others were embellishments of myths of their neighbours or, perhaps for all we know, resulted from actual visions or encounters with the extra-natural.

How each religion occurred is irrelevant for now, but it didn’t take long to reach a point at which, wherever people dwelt, there were religions. As we will see later, there is some pretty serious evidence that we are in fact “wired” for religious or spiritual experiences. What matters is that, for whatever reasons, religions formed and eventually philosophers philosophized, preachers preached, sacred texts were developed and atheists were debating with theists about the existence or nature of a deity.

Why this focus? When you get right down to it, the existence or nonexistence of a god is not in itself a daily issue for most humans. It becomes significant, though, because of concerns that do affect our lives, and those of our kin, in ongoing and immediate ways.

1. Are there some universal standards of good and evil? 
2. What is my motivation to do good and not evil? 
3. Is there anything I can do to prevent bad things from happening to me? 
4. Is there some purpose for my existence, some meaning to my life? 
5. How much control and individual choice do I have in the way I lead my life? 
6. What will make me and my family happy? 
7. What, if any, form of existence will I have after I die? 
8. Is there anything beyond life? Does anything I do now affect me after I die? 
9. What, if anything, do I owe to anyone or anything outside of me and my family? 

These are the primary concerns ^note1 that we humans share. Here are eight that most might agree on. You may have others. Now, here’s the rub: you can’t get very far thinking about these questions without being confronted by the question of pattern, direction, design and apparent intelligence in the Universe. And once you get there, the issue of the existence or absence of a god and its possible nature presents itself, even though nothing, at least for now, can be proven.

These primary concerns apply to atheists and theists alike, but it should be noted that they are probably lurking behind the origin of most religions. Thus, to some degree, we dwell on the issue of the existence of a deity because it’s an offshoot of our primary concerns.

But wait! (as they say) — there appears to be much more reason for us thinking about the deity issue. There is evidence that a particular part of the brain is involved in spirituality and belief, and furthermore that there is a specific influence of our DNA on our inclination towards religion and spirituality. There are three books that I very much enjoy about the evolution of a structure for religion in our brains. ^note2 Of these, the one I most recommend is Why God Won’t Go Away by Andrew Newberg, Eugene D’Aquioll and Vince Rause. The other two are excellent as well, if a little more technical in nature.

Newberg, D’Aquioll, and Rause raise the question of how Darwinian evolution can cause and sustain the various steps that end with a brain adjusted for spirituality. They quote Jay Gould in a 1977 article in Natural History Magazine:

Of what possible use are the imperfect incipient stages of useful structures? … What good is half a jaw or half a wing?

The authors pose the question themselves:

It’s difficult to imagine what survival advantages the neurology of transcendence would offer in its partially evolved development stages or why natural selection would tolerate these neural developments, which wouldn’t be operational for untold millions of years. 

They then point out that the mystic transcendence experience is much like the sense experienced in the sex act, and the neurological structures and pathways involved certainly overlap (though they are not identical). Any change that increase sexual gratification certainly would have been a beneficial advantage within the arena of evolution, and might well have kept the package alive as it further evolved toward supporting the capacity for spirituality.

Is this part of a “plan” or merely a happy coincidence? Much more time and study is required to come to a conclusion, but either way there is a strong suggestion that spirituality is itself a human need with some survival advantage for our species, supporting a possible reason for the religious impulse.