ABSTRACT
Throughout human history, religions have played a major role in the lives of individuals and in the integration of societies. This is still true even in postDarwinian Western Europe, where religious truth and scientific truth are often seen as opposed. Many of our institutions have religious roots and, in spite of the obvious contradictions between modern science and literal interpretations of religious texts, many people still attend places of worship or claim religious faith. Why should this be so? One possible answer lies in the fact that religious observance results from pan-cultural human psychological characteristics which, in the context of human societies, have shaped religious systems in all their diversity. This is certainly not a new idea, but recent advances in psychology, biology and the social sciences permit it to be evaluated more precisely. This chapter considers first the prevalence of religious involvement, with
special reference to the western world. Then, accepting that many religious beliefs are absolutely incompatible with both an everyday and a scientific view of the world, I suggest that that is an inadequate reason for simply writing off religion at this time: we first need more understanding of what religion is. The widespread influence of religious systems provides what are perhaps the most exciting problems in the behavioural sciences.
