Put simply, Darwin’s theory has it that life began as a mixture of chemicals. By chance reactions the chemicals formed proteins. These proteins merged together and became simple organisms. The organisms then became engaged in a war for supremacy over the available food supplies and as a result of the fight the strongest individuals prospered and reproduced. This is known as natural selection or survival of the fittest. So the more suited you are to your environment the more likely you are to reproduce and continue to survive.

What is also important to the organism though is the ability to adapt to changing circumstances. A sudden drought, for instance, might wipe out a whole population; except for those individuals that have developed an extra bag like structure, which holds reserve water. Thus mechanisms, which randomise the individual, are also essential for the survival of the whole population. This happens in two ways, by sexual reproduction and by mutation. Mutation is caused by a genetic accident in which the individual comes out radically differently to everyone else and is more important to lower life forms, especially ones that do not reproduce sexually.

Human beings are possibly unique, in that this process has led us to become especially adaptable. When we are born we know very little, but by five years old we can be internet users, accomplished violists, or competent hunters. It just depends which type of society we grow up in. So our strength, and weakness, is our highly developed mental ability; to the point where we have developed a clear sense of self.

I’m not going to argue about the levels of “self”. Does a dolphin have more awareness than a dog for example? What is true though is that human beings appear to be the most successful species on the planet. We have the greatest level of consciousness and prefer to function in massive societies.

What is the consequence of this however? We are blessed with a powerful computing resource that we apply to solving complex problems in order to make our lives easier and safer. But then we go on to use its spare capacity and ability to ask philosophical questions like. How did I get here? What is my purpose? What happens when I die? Why does injustice happen?

It’s my belief therefore that any society that does not have good answers for the individual to these and similar questions will not do as well as one that does. Simply looking at the bulk scale, it’s more efficient to be using the combined brainpower for innovative thinking about how to produce food and wage war on your neighbours than trying to contemplate the unknowable. God and religion therefore offer a very powerful full stop to wasteful thought patterns.

If this is the case then our inbuilt spiritual feelings and desire for God are no more than a result of natural selection over models of society that resulted in favouring spiritual individuals. And God has therefore become a “hard wired” need within us. Plus most religions also contain key messages that support the process of building a strong society. Don’t kill each other, or yourself. Love and help each other. Clearly religion and society and the individual have a symbiotic relationship.

Religions themselves therefore must also be subject to the process of natural selection. So there are other messages to the individual that are important in keeping the whole religious organism alive. Don’t be gay, make other believers, and be wary of those that try to mutate belief too far.

Thus religion and society are intimately linked but it is clear that this relationship is now under extreme tension. The trends in society are evolving faster than religious systems can keep up with and one is no longer relevant to the other. One reason for this is because religions are usually based on written texts and the interpretation of these can only be stretched so far before credibility of the core values is lost.

So what are the possible responses to this tension?

God can be replaced by other distractions. With a consumerist society, purpose for the individual is found in either getting or producing the next gadget, the next meal, the next house, the next investment, the next job. This is all very well but the gap between these short-term kicks and the need for answers is usually plugged by individual’s dependence on drugs or alcohol. And society starts to depend on overly controlling political and economic systems or turns to science for answers to the big questions. (it’s a separate article but the LHC will never satisfy any physicist but just point towards the need for an Extra LHC and on the cycle will continue)

On the other hand, become a fundamentalist and refuse to shift from the text as it is written and try and change society instead. The gap is so wide however this now requires extreme force or political pressure. Teaching about Darwin for example in some schools has been forbidden and the biblical creation story is taught instead. Fundamentalism works but since it can have no diversity, when it dies all of it will die in one go.

In my view time is short. The evolutionary pressure favouring spiritual individuals has been removed, as it now brings no advantages. My advice for religious leaders would be to understand how natural selection applies equally well to their belief systems as it does to their genetically modified corn snacks.

If religions are to catch up with society they should learn to do the things that favour evolution. Reproduce as efficiently as possible; so spread the word using all possible forms of communication. Relish diversity; allow the beliefs to be modified and other groups to break off. Absorb good mutations; if some strange practices seem to increase the numbers of believers, then adopt these too. Steal successful beliefs from other religions and from society. Human beings to require spiritual experience so make sure it is delivered in abundance. And finally give simple yet credible answers for the big questions.

Today if I was designing a religion from the bottom up in our consumerist society then I think it would have to be internet based. It would forbid the eating of peanuts. It would allow Women and Gay people to take positions of authority. It would have some good fun mystic rituals, including catchy pop songs. It would have no single written source. All believers would pay for their “service” and in return they would have a hand in its constant improvement. But most importantly of all it would appeal deeply to the individuals need for some sense of purpose and meaning in life.