宗教与部落本能

Some time last autumn, I was chatting with an acquaintance about toxic beliefs from childhood. He said he was surprised that many people avoid changing such beliefs, sometimes finding excuses, sometimes even reacting with hostility if they disagree with others’ opinions. I said (approximately): “It’s because 我们以这样的信念与家人联系在一起, and on some level we feel that it helps our survival – it’s almost like religion sometimes.”

I blurted that last part out without too much thinking, but then it struck me – it 是 很像宗教。 Religion serves the same purpose – group cohesion, mutual support, encouraging each other’s survival – on a wider scale than biological family. Family bonds are created naturally, automatically; weaker tribal bonds require something more in order to motivate people to invest extra effort into activities that benefit the tribe.

I’m quite aware that many anthropologists must have come to the same conclusion long before me, but it was still quite a revelation to me because of all the psychological conclusions that follow.
It makes sense, then, that most religions require suspension of disbelief and upholding certain traditions that don’t make much sense in modern times. It’s a way of testing people: “Are you with us, are you willing to follow our leaders unconditionally – or are you unlikely to contribute to our tribe and therefore a liability?”

It makes sense that people often respond with such hostility when those beliefs are challenged – in some instinctive part of our minds, it’s not just a belief that is challenged – it’s our survival and sense of belonging.

排除

A woman I worked with some years back, told me that when she was a child, her family wasn’t religious and didn’t go to church – so their neighbors avoided and excluded them. This doesn’t make sense if you consider that most religions teach compassion and unselfishness – but it makes perfect sense if you consider tribal instincts. This is why most religions in the past fueled ethnic conflicts – and some extremist factions still use it for the same purpose.

From the perspective of tribal instincts, the feeling is not, “Be kind to everyone”, the meta-message is more like, “Love and help 睦邻 – but other tribes are a competition and need to be fought or assimilated.” If there wasn’t for tribal instincts, a meeting of different faiths would look more like “That’s what you believe? Cool! My folks believe that a giant fish came out of the ocean and grew legs and gave birth to first people! Let’s get together and share stories!” instead of “Is 那 what you believe? DIE!!!”

现实一点 如果不同的基督教流派真正遵循《新约》，他们会比任何自由派媒体都更自由但由于其基本目的是凝聚群体，因此通常侧重于界定和执行相当严格的行为规范，同时惩罚那些与这些规范不同的人。 部落的本能往往强于理智或同情心.

繁荣与宗教

I also find it significant that in rich countries of Western Europe and Australia (perhaps Canada too, but I’m not so familiar with the situation in Canada yet, in terms of religion), people are much less likely to take religion seriously than anywhere else. In fact, you can observe the 宗教的重要性随着生活水平的下降而增加 from country to country (often even from region to region within a country). It’s not just about better education – it’s more about the feeling that in a rich country, you don’t 需要 一个部落了 to ensure your survival. If a social security network works well, you might not need your family or neighbors’ help even when you are sick or old. In such circumstances, tribal instincts are not so necessary and it makes sense to question authority and old beliefs.

You might say, “美国? Religion is still very important there!” I see several explanations for that.
首先，美国不像欧洲许多国家那样单一（即使在过去几十年中欧盟的移民数量有所增加）。在美国，几乎每个人在某种程度上都是少数群体。多样性如此之多，以至于部落本能被激发出来，归属于某个群体并确认群体身份的需求日益强烈。

Second, social security system in America is much less supportive of an individual than in EU – especially in case of 医疗 problems. There are many more homeless people in USA than Europe – and many more possibilities for an individual to 无家可归 在很短的时间内。这可能会让人们感到不那么安全，更有可能通过加入已有的社区来寻求额外的安全感。

第三，欧洲的部落领地或多或少早在几个世纪前就已建立（尽管发生过许多局部小规模冲突和两次世界大战），而美国的边境战争根据维基百科的说法，大约在 1890 年甚至更晚才结束。在我看来，美国的军事文化仍然相当浓厚，对军事的颂扬远远超过欧盟。致 催人参战一切 战争意味着您需要 坚定的信念和强烈的群体认同感 – and religion is one of the things that fulfill that purpose.

有些宗教现在是全球性的，其成员远远超过了个人所能亲近的范围。在我看来，这也是这些宗教内部派别林立（通常相互敌对）的一个原因（或至少是部分原因）。我们的大脑 应付不了 too large a tribe. If a tribe becomes so large that the relationships become too impersonal, can you really count on those people’s help? Best to make it smaller. It’s not a conscious decision, but an instinctive urge.

I’m aware that questioning religious beliefs often makes people feel angry and offended. While trying to be as objective as possible, I have to take that risk. I hope that most readers will understand this as an invitation to think, rather than “whose worldview is better” contest. I also hope that, if more  people become aware of how their tribal instincts influence them, it might motivate them to abandon “kill the unbeliever” way to be religious in favor of “love and compassion” way to be religious. All the religions in the world include some great and uplifting ideas, as well as some that are toxic or pointless. Let’s finally put the emphasize at the former.

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