Why Religion? Disease.

A fascinating new thought from two social behaviorists.  They offer an idea of why strong religious belief springs up in some parts of the planet more than others.  The gist of their finding…

Their hypothesis is that in places where disease is rampant, it behooves groups not to mix with one another more than is strictly necessary, in order to reduce the risk of contagion. They therefore predict that patterns of behaviour which promote group exclusivity will be stronger in disease-ridden areas. Since religious differences are certainly in that category, they specifically predict that the number of different religions in a place will vary with the disease load. Which is, as they report in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, the case.