Is religion proof of natural selection?

Question

A religion needs believers to exist, if people stop believing or convert to another faith, then the old religion dies, so,a religion needs "new blood" to live. Or, a crisis of faith could trigger a "mutation", forming a new species-of-religion. (eg Muhammad, jesus). Seems like even religions obey Darwins laws!
(and yes i know selection in nature is sex based, but if you look, there are parallels for that in religious growth also)

Answer 1

I think about Evolution a lot, and it seems that Evolution effects everything related to biological systems on Earth. Evolution works on our thoughts and ideas as well as our bodies (they're essentially the same things). Language is the best example I can think of. As a group of people splits off from it's home country, the languages start to diverge. You can already see this with Britain, Australia, and the US. The change will probably be slowed by the internet though, but you can see how if we had no connections to these other countries, we'd soon not be able to understand their languages (just as isolated species soon can't mate with the species they broke away from).

Technology is also a good example of natural selection. When a new invention is released to the market, the consumer decides whether it will succede or not. Before it goes onto the market, it is scrutinized and perfected by it's maker. In this way, only the most fit inventions survive lol.

Answer 2

Oh my. The fundies are not going to like you over this question! But given your premise, would not the original religion in this particular scenario, being Judaism, still have room for four more offshoots? Given the days of the week where the Sabbath is celebrated? Can we all look forward to four more religions based on this original? As logic eventually overtakes them all, what do we have to look forward to? The mind boggles...

Answer 3

Interesting point. I could go along with that point of view although it will probably make some of the creationists crazy.