A new book by Barbara King views the evolution of religion in a refreshing new way. Unlike many of the previous efforts by scientists, in particular evolutionary psychologists, to explain the origin of man's spiritual/religious behavior, King actually respects religion.
She argues that the human religiosity is best understood, referencing Martin Buber, as the deeply felt urge to belong, to connect emotionally with others. Once the big brain capable of symbol making emerges, this desire spills over into a capacity for deep emotional engagement(belongingness) with forces not visible to us.
She traces the origins of this capacity for connection, this primal need for connection, to our apelike ancestor. Evidently, 7 million years ago this African Ape line split into two, eventuating in homosapiens and our nearest evolutionary cousins, today's chimps, gorillas and bonobos.
In the apes of today(not in monkeys) we can see the building blocks of religion, first among them empathy. She argues that other animals may participate in emotional contagian but only the apes take it to the next step, empathy. Of course human beings take it further still, developing this capacity for those not of their own immediate tribe, Our abilities for cognitive empathy outstrip anything in the animal world., but are not unique divine qualities(Kant's moral law within, Kaplan's argument for a force that makes for salvation) but rather explainable by evolutionary science.
So Barbara King is not about proving that God really exists. Perhaps one might even say she is making a good argument for how human beings created(she says "evolved") God. There was no spiritual big bang. On the other hand, she defines religion in ways far more subtle and sympathetic than many scientists and gives us much to think about.
