Syed Ibrahim Rizvi
Despite the vast differences of opinion in religious thought, as perceived by the followers of present-day major religions, the concept of God is strikingly common in all religions. As a broad definition, God is perceived as ‘the creator and ruler of the universe’. It is indeed a queer paradox that most of the conflicts in the modern world are due to the religious inclination of people prophesying different religious thoughts albeit everyone agreeing to the common definition of God.
If indeed there is God, in the sense of being the creator and ruler of the universe, then he must be truly depressed to see the state of his creation and the kingdom that he rules. His followers are continuously using his name to kill, lynch, rob, go to wars, become terrorists and discriminate.
Therefore, to understand the concept of God, it is important to go back in time when humans did not use a divine alibi to do all unlawful acts and then blame everything on God. It is important to keep in mind that the concept of God is innately associated with the concept of religion. There is no religion which exists without the mention of a God.
It is in this context that we find that the concept of religious thought is rather recent in human history and spans only a tiny time scale if we consider the history of life on earth.
After all, the definition of God is not dependent on time and therefore one has to acknowledge that being the creator of universe God was always present, even before the creation of this blue planet some 4.5 billion years back. Taking this argument, a bit further, how can anyone doubt the existence of God even prior to the big bang, some 15 billion years in human time scale!
The universality of God is then questioned because all major religions are only recent creations. Even the most prehistoric evidence of religion, the exact time when humans first became religious, remains unknown; however evidence from evolutionary archaeology shows evidence of religious-cum-ritualistic behavior sometime around the Middle Paleolithic era (45–200 thousand years ago).
There have been numerous attempts to define religion in an effort to explain its origins.
As a broad definition, religion is a complex set of beliefs and behaviors based on a shared viewpoint that distinguishes the sacred, or supernatural, from the non-religious.
Significantly religion is unique to humans. Ardent belief in supernatural agents and the related religious practices are prevalent in virtually all human cultures. Where did religion first come from, and how can we explain why humans seem so drawn to religious ideas? Although Anthropologists have different opinion on the origin of religious thought, the most acceptable is the ‘Trance’ hypothesis. The idea is that ancient religiosity came into existence when our prehistoric ancestors, perhaps in the middle Paleolithic period, realized that they could induce ecstatic experiences. They realized that activities such as dancing, drumming, imbibing, chanting, feasting and fasting, could induce a feeling of ecstasy. Achieving ecstasy is an adaptive evolutionary byproduct. Synchronized behavioral activity in large groups leads to release of endorphins. These are opioid hormones which ease tension, and therefore amplify pro-social behavior by dissolving disputes. In short, the birth of religiosity allowed human groups to grow and form large social groups.
It is thus no wonder that all major religions have intrinsic activities which involve social activities being undertaken in large groups. Scientific evidence suggests that activities in social groups lead to release of endorphins. Perhaps the concept of religion arose in humans because it was the binding force of large social groups which might differ culturally.
The universality of God should also be debated with respect to absence of any such concept in any other species than Homo sapiens. In a lighter note one is constrained to think that violence, terrorism, and discrimination does not exist in the animal kingdom. No animal kills another animal on the basis of religious belief.
As human evolution continued in the last 200,000 years, the most important development was the increase in the cranial capacity or the brain size. With a larger brain sapiens started developing cognitive capabilities hitherto not seen in any other animal. Modern humans, with a cranial capacity of 1400 cc, boast a brain size much bigger than any of ancestral apes. Larger and evolved brain was the beginning of the advent of the so-called four primary emotions: aggression, fear, sadness, and happiness. Out of these four emotions the combination of happiness and anger generated vengeance, while jealousy was the result of combining anger and fear. Awe, which figures so prominently in religion, is the combination of fear and happiness. Guilt and shame were another crucial emotion for the development of religion which were the combination of sadness, fear, and anger
The higher cognitive abilities allowed earlier humans to ask questions within themselves about the origins of natural phenomenon which seemed to them as supernatural. Several of their questions originated in awe. What is the reason for day/night, change of seasons, rainfall, rivers flowing, diseases and other unexplained phenomenon. All such questions which could not be explained by the existing knowledge were answered on the basis of ‘a universal creator’. It was easy to ascribe all that was not understood to the wisdom of the God.
In creating an ’unseen’ and fictional ‘authority’ by the name of God, humans provided themselves with a broad answer to observations which their knowledge could not fathom. To explain why sometimes the established norms went wrong, the human mind, at its fictional best, created another character which was also powerful but in the negative sense: the satan. All major religions have two common things; the God and the Satan.
It is thus no wonder that the early religions were based on the belief of animism or the belief in a supernatural power that organizes and animates the material universe. The sun, the moon, mountains, rivers, useful animals, plants and other such natural phenomenon became sacred. Every religion had certain rituals which needed shared activity in groups and common meals.
The emergence of religious thought in early humans was thus dictated by basic two instincts. Creation of a force which could hold large number of individuals, sometimes culturally different, in a single social group adhering to a set of common principles, and, to explain the observation of phenomenon which caused awe and disbelief. Both the concepts needed a large amount of fictional belief in a force which was ‘invisible’ and thus arose the concept of God.
Religious thought emerged as an important concept post agriculture revolution in the human history around 10,000 years back. As humans evolved, religion became an integral part since it conferred obvious evolutionary benefits. The emergence and prevalence of various religions in all parts of the world shows that religion is linked to some kind of an evolutionary benefit. Another line of evidence which is worth wondering is that all religions have a fair share of commonality. Compassion; solidarity; respect for the human person; empathy; truthfulness are some of the basic values which find a mention in all varied forms of religious thoughts which are professed by humans. The common basic values are a big confirmation of the evolutionary benefits of religion.
On a different platform, any debate on the existence of God and the tenets of religion may remain incomplete without viewing the entire aspect in the light of present date scientific knowledge. The Darwin’s theory of natural selection goes diagonally against the belief of intelligent creation as explained by all religious thoughts. As man delves more and more into molecular realm of life, it becomes clear that all life forms have a common beginning. The existence of universal DNA codes spanning all life, from bacteria to humans, is a robust acknowledgement of creation of humans through a common event leading to formation of building blocks of life. A biochemical analysis of all life forms shows that all life is made of a few types of biomolecules. The same carbohydrates, proteins, lipids and nucleic acids which are present in humans, are also present in bacteria, algae, lizards, birds and the tiger.
The theory of natural selection provides a convincing argument to explain how random mutations may have brought about subtle changes in existing species. Those offsprings which were better suited for the environment grew and reproduced faster. This argument explained, scientifically, the journey of life from the bacteria to humans. The ‘concept of an intelligent design’, which is based on the premise that humans occupy the most revered place on this earth, is just too simplistic and difficult to validate scientifically.
The recent CORONA pandemic highlighted Darwin’s theory that random mutations in the genetic machinery have always been the propelling force of creation of new species all through the evolutionary tree. The analogy of CORONA virus assuming new identities (strains) with altered properties showcased how mutations may have been instrumental in creation of new species.
The universal application of laws of physics is again a testimony of the scientific explanation that life evolved through a random process wherein it took billions of years for infinite permutations and combinations between different molecules. The concept of intelligent design, which is the genesis of all religions, perhaps fails to provide a unifying explanation to the creation of diversity of life forms on this earth.
The adherence and the attractiveness of religious thought, making it universally appealing to every possible society, probably owes greatly to the inability of the human mind to fathom the scale of time which has passed from the time of the origin of life to present times. The human mind finds it difficult to visualize a span of time of more than hundred years. We have no reference against which time can be compared. The time scale of evolution and the billions of years which have passed from origin of life to the present times is too huge. Natural selection, as defined by Darwin, happened so slowly that it was never visible in real time.
The laws of entropy are universal. They explain not only why the universe is expanding but also why the glucose molecule is packed with energy. Every day we eat food because we want to decrease our entropy. The only difference between life and death is that in the state of death, the entropy of the system becomes highest.
It is thus not without reason that hard core religion with ardent supporters are found predominantly in those parts of the world which have low literacy rates and high poverty. Religion also provides a healing touch to its followers in moments of duress. All difficult situations are explained as ‘God’s wish’. This paradox saves a lot of problems and puts the blame on destiny. Thus, religion is continuously playing an important evolutionary survival tool.
Science is still in its infancy and probably would continue to remain for the reason that new facts continue to emerge as we move forward. The basic beauty of scientific thought is that it is always amenable to new theories. The concepts of religion are mired in stringent beliefs and offer no scope for leverage. Despite the fact that science still has no answers to large number of questions, we do have a clear understanding of a plethora of observations which are ancestors ascribed to ‘intelligent design’ and explained them through the concept of religion and God.
In the age of Artificial Intelligence, space missions, and robotic medical interventions, even God would be happy to witness the scientific pursuits of humans. However, religion still remains and shall continue to be a social glue for humanity. All humans who belief in God must understand that no matter the religion, God doesn’t discriminate and therefore there is no reason for humans to fight on the basis of religious thought.
(The author is Professor of Biochemistry at University of Allahabad)