does religion and society affect human evolution?

Question

what i guess i mean is if for example society is lead by religion for a thousand years not to ask questions will the descendants of these people be less questioning and one could argue less inteligent then those who liive in a society that spends a thousand years in research and technological advancement? this is just an example i mean it in a general sense can the conditions of a society and not just the conditions of environment affect evolution?

Answer 1

You are using "evolution" in a broad, general sense, to mean any kind of change over time, which is a legitimate use of the term. Certainly the social values and customs of a society do "evolve", that is gradually change over time, and yes, religion and the interests of society can have a great effect on that kind of "evolution". However, that type of ongoing change has nothing to do with biological evolution.
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Answer 2

some probably can. for religion to affect human evolution, it would have to have some influence over whether a person lives long enough to pass their genes on to offspring, and whether there are genes present that are 1) selectable traits responsible for behavior and 2) critical to longterm survival and/or reproduction.

some religious fanatics end up dead in wars or as martyrs, some abstain from sex until marriage...and on the flip-side, some refuse to use birth control and have many children, others believe its their duty to have many children....

all in all, "religion" can probably effect the evolution of humans...in what way, however, is impossible to know because if there are actual genes that are behind the different behaviors, they are as yet unknown, and the behaviors are also largely based on non-genetic factors, such as social mores and norms, and therefore cannot be passed on through genetics.

either way, it probably wouldn't mean an evolution of a certain religion itself, but rather some other trait associated with belief in a certain religion.

Answer 3

Much of what we do affects our evolution. Evolution is there to ensure that we survive long enough to reproduce. Earth is a changing, living entity. As it changes, every living thing on Earth has to change to survive long enough to reproduce.

Therefore, everything we do has a cause and effect relationship. As two different societies of the same animal live with different conditions, they develop differently. That's why you have different typs of frogs, fish, dogs, horses, cats, and humans.

Speaking of how humans are "different," there is only a 0.01% difference between any one human and another. We are virtually genetically identical. Our physical differences are a result of living conditions and adapting to environments. The color of skin and the color and shape of eyes and the texture of hair are adaptations that served purposes in different regions of the Earth. Adaptations of technology are only to make life "easier" on a particular level. Look at European technology 600 years ago vs technology in what is now the Americas. Is one better than the other?

Answer 4

human evolution has been going on for thousands of years and will continue whether we have technological advances or not.

as for religion or intellectual enlightenment affecting evolution...
not until most recently...
-science has now gotten to the point where we can clone, so i'm sure this ability will affect the natural order of human evolution.
-religion serves no purpose but to control the masses in a psychological way but still has been able to control how fast science proceeds in its own arena.

my opinion is that evolution has brought us intelligence.
intelligence (or lack of) has brought us religion.
religion tries to slow down intelligence to keep control.
-these may be generalisations but I assume that is all you wanted.

Answer 5

We are outgrowing religion and superstition of the dark ages due to industry , technology progress.

So just what happened to us in the last two hundred years should shape our evolution for the future quite interestingly.

Fireball> You do realise that you can actually SEE evolution in progress under a microscope, don't you?
look up why your idiotic ilk coined the term "microevolution", so obviously, even with the smarter creationist fools, they see there is in fact some evolution.

Answer 6

it affects human evolution in many ways. for one, it has traditionally had a major role in choosing mates. that has its genetic effects. it has played a big role in wars which select large segments of young men who are lost from the gene pool. in other words it has had a powerful effect on selection, not so natural, for many centuries. hell, that is like asking did the invention of the cannon affect human evolution? did the black plague in the Renaissance affect evolution? yes, i believe it did, too. all these things add up. what is worse yet is that in the modern world social engineering (socialism) will come to be the biggest influence of all, short of all-out nuclear war or a large meteor strike from outer space.

Answer 7

Many believers will wish to believe that God has simply made this world out of this "divine will" and that it is in this particular way "for a reason".

It should seem to me that these people would be less willing to progress from this current state (to change the world from how it currently is) because by doing so would violate "gods plan" for humanity.

Answer 8

If you kill off enough inquisitive people, you might breed curiosity out of a population. More likely, the society will grow to be less inquisitive because of social pressures -- not biological, but social evolution.

Answer 9

Most people measure evolution in terms of technological progress.

In reality, our evolution should be measured in terms of every individual's ability to fully express the gifts of the Creator.

In this sense, many indigineous people whom we would consider low on the evolutionary scale because they had no technology, would rate very high because every member of the tribe was treated as an equal.

I would argue that as our technology has increased we have actually slid backwards on the true evolutionary scale.

Answer 10

In Vietnam the average age of the combat solider was 19