A new study from the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent) suggests that societies with less access to food and water are more likely to believe in various types of deities to lift their morals.
Professor at the University of Auckland and a founding director of the Max Planck Institute for History and the Sciences in Jena, Germany Russell Gray, who spoke in this regards said, “When life is tough or when it’s uncertain, people believe in big gods, adding that pro-social behaviour may help people do well in harsh or unpredictable environments.
Gray and his coauthors found a strong correlation between belief in high gods who enforce a moral code and other societal characteristics. Political complexity–namely a social hierarchy beyond the local community– and the practice of animal husbandry were both strongly associated with a belief in moralizing gods.
The emergence of religion has long been explained as a result of either culture or environmental factors but not both. The new findings imply that complex practices and characteristics thought to be exclusive to humans arise from a medley of ecological, historical, and cultural variables.
The paper, which is now available online, will be published in an upcoming issue of the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science.
Courtesy eurekalert.org
Source : Independent