Why does Wade believe that religion is genetic?
Which adaptations did he believe contributed to group survival?
Which of these do we see today?
How did the group guard against free-riders and warfare?
How does Hobbes quote relate to Wade's argument?
Wade identifies more than a few reasons why he believes religion is genetic, beginning with his
main argument that the universality of religion, as he puts it, strongly suggests that religious
behavior is an adaptation, or trait shaped by natural selection.
Thus, he argues if religion is an
adaptation, then it must have a genetic basis.
In simpler terms, he explains that religions all
across the world have underlying similarities that would be unlikely to have persisted for
thousands of years of diverging generations, unless genetic factors were at play.
Wade believes
that at some point a long time ago religious behavior had to have benefitted the group survival
enough that this trait was selected and passed down through genetics.
