What use is religion? Part 1.(Op-Ed)(Column)

From: Free Inquiry | Date: June 1, 2004| Author: | Copyright information

As a Darwinian, the aspect of religion that catches my attention is its profligate wastefulness, its extravagant display of baroque uselessness. Nature is a miserly accountant, grudging the pennies, watching the clock, punishing the smallest waste. If a wild animal habitually performs some useless activity, natural selection will favor rival individuals who instead devote time to surviving and reproducing. Nature cannot afford frivolous jeux desprits. Ruthless utilitarianism trumps, even if it doesn't always seem that way.

"Anting" is the odd habit of birds such as jays of ...

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