http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/22/INGA9LRRPN1.DTL


God knows why faith is thriving

Dinesh D'Souza

Sunday, October 22, 2006



A group of leading atheists is puzzled by the continued existence and
vitality of religion.

As biologist Richard Dawkins puts it in his new book "The God
Delusion," faith is a form of irrationality, what he terms a "virus of
the mind." Philosopher Daniel Dennett compares belief in God to belief
in the Easter Bunny. Sam Harris, author of "The End of Faith" and now
"Letter to a Christian Nation," professes amazement that hundreds of
millions of people worldwide profess religious beliefs when there is no
rational evidence for any of those beliefs. Biologist E.O. Wilson says
there must be some evolutionary explanation for the universality and
pervasiveness of religious belief.

Actually, there is. The Rev. Ron Carlson, a popular author and
lecturer, sometimes presents his audience with two stories and asks
them whether it matters which one is true.

In the secular account, "You are the descendant of a tiny cell of
primordial protoplasm washed up on an empty beach 3 1/2 billion years
ago. You are a mere grab bag of atomic particles, a conglomeration of
genetic substance. You exist on a tiny planet in a minute solar system
in an empty corner of a meaningless universe. You came from nothing and
are going nowhere."

In the Christian view, by contrast, "You are the special creation of a
good and all-powerful God. You are the climax of His creation. Not only
is your kind unique, but you are unique among your kind. Your Creator
loves you so much and so intensely desires your companionship and
affection that He gave the life of His only son that you might spend
eternity with him."

Now imagine two groups of people -- let's call them the Secular Tribe
and the Religious Tribe -- who subscribe to one of these two views.
Which of the two is more likely to survive, prosper and multiply? The
religious tribe is made up of people who have an animating sense of
purpose. The secular tribe is made up of people who are not sure why
they exist at all. The religious tribe is composed of individuals who
view their every thought and action as consequential. The secular tribe
is made up of matter that cannot explain why it is able to think at
all.

Should evolutionists like Dennett, Dawkins, Harris and Wilson be
surprised, then, to see that religious tribes are flourishing around
the world? Across the globe, religious faith is thriving and religious
people are having more children. By contrast, atheist conventions only
draw a handful of embittered souls, and the atheist lifestyle seems to
produce listless tribes that cannot even reproduce themselves.

Russia is one of the most atheist countries in the world, and there
abortions outnumber live births 2 to 1. Russia's birth rate has fallen
so low that the nation is now losing 700,000 people a year. Japan,
perhaps the most secular country in Asia, is also on a kind of
population diet: its 130 million people are expected to drop to around
100 million in the next few decades. And then there is Europe. The most
secular continent on the globe is decadent in the literal sense that
its population is rapidly shrinking. Lacking the strong Christian
identity that produced its greatness, atheist Europe seems to be a
civilization on its way out. We have met Nietzsche's "last man" and his
name is Sven.

Traditionally, scholars have tried to give an economic explanation for
these trends. The general idea is that population was a function of
affluence. Sociologists noted that as people and countries became
richer, they had fewer children. Presumably, primitive societies needed
children to help in the fields, and more-prosperous societies no longer
did. From this perspective, religion was explained as a phenomenon of
poverty, insecurity and fear, and many pundits predicted that with the
spread of modernity and prosperity, religion would fade away.

The economic explanation is now being questioned. It was never all that
plausible anyway. Undoubtedly, poor people are more economically
dependent on their children, but on the other hand, rich people can
afford more children. Wealthy people in America today tend to have one
child or none, but wealthy families in the past tended to have three or
more children.

The real difference is not merely in the level of
income. The real difference is that in the past, children were valued
as gifts from God, and now they are viewed by many people as
instruments of self-gratification. The old principle was, "Be fruitful
and multiply." The new one is, "Have as many children as enhance your
lifestyle."

The prophets of the disappearance of religion seem to have proven
themselves to be false prophets. Even though the world is becoming
richer, religion seems to be getting stronger.

The United States is the
richest and most technologically advanced society in the world, and
religion shows no signs of disappearing on these shores.

China and India are growing in affluence, and the Chinese government is not
exactly hospitable to religion, yet religious belief and practice
continue to be strong in both countries.

Europe's best chance to grow
in the future seems to be to import more religious Muslims. While Islam
spreads in Europe and elsewhere, Christianity is spreading even faster
in Africa, Asia and South America. Remarkably, Christianity will soon
become a non-Western religion with a minority presence among Europeans.

My conclusion is that it is not religion but atheism that requires a
Darwinian explanation. It seems perplexing why nature would breed a
group of people who see no purpose to life or the universe, indeed
whose only moral drive seems to be sneering at their fellow human
beings who do have a sense of purpose.

expertise of Dawkins and his friends could prove illuminating. Maybe
they can turn their Darwinian lens on themselves and help us understand
how atheism, like the human tailbone and the panda's thumb, somehow
survived as an evolutionary leftover of our primitive past.

Dinesh D'Souza's new book "The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and Its
Responsibility for 9/11" will be published in January by Doubleday. He
is the Rishwain Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Contact us at
insight@sfchronicle.com.

Page E - 3

God knows why faith is thriving

Dinesh D'Souza

Sunday, October 22, 2006



A group of leading atheists is puzzled by the continued existence and
vitality of religion.

Actually, there is. The Rev. Ron Carlson,...

In the secular account, "You are the descendant of a tiny cell of
primordial protoplasm washed up on an empty beach 3 1/2 billion years
ago. You are a mere grab bag of atomic particles, a conglomeration of
genetic substance. You exist on a tiny planet in a minute solar system
in an empty corner of a meaningless universe.

You came from nothing and are going nowhere.

In the Christian view, by contrast, "You are the special creation of a
good and all-powerful God.

He gave the life of His only son that you might spend
eternity with him.

religious tribe is made up of people who have an animating sense of
purpose.

The secular tribe is made up of people who are not sure why
they exist at all.

The religious tribe is composed of individuals who
view their every thought and action as consequential.

atheist lifestyle seems to
produce listless tribes that cannot even reproduce themselves.

"Have as many children as enhance your
lifestyle."

Remarkably, Christianity will soon
become a non-Western religion with a minority presence among Europeans.

My conclusion is that it is not religion but atheism that requires a
Darwinian explanation. It seems perplexing why nature would breed a
group of people who see no purpose to life or the universe,...

...only moral drive seems to be sneering at their fellow human
beings who do have a sense of purpose.

Dinesh D'Souza's ... Rishwain Fellow at the Hoover Institution.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/22/INGA9LRRPN1.DTL


God knows why faith is thriving

Dinesh D'Souza

Sunday, October 22, 2006



A group of leading atheists is puzzled by the continued existence and
vitality of religion.

As biologist Richard Dawkins puts it in his new book "The God
Delusion," faith is a form of irrationality, what he terms a "virus of
the mind." Philosopher Daniel Dennett compares belief in God to belief
in the Easter Bunny. Sam Harris, author of "The End of Faith" and now
"Letter to a Christian Nation," professes amazement that hundreds of
millions of people worldwide profess religious beliefs when there is no
rational evidence for any of those beliefs. Biologist E.O. Wilson says
there must be some evolutionary explanation for the universality and
pervasiveness of religious belief.

Actually, there is. The Rev. Ron Carlson, a popular author and
lecturer, sometimes presents his audience with two stories and asks
them whether it matters which one is true.

In the secular account, "You are the descendant of a tiny cell of
primordial protoplasm washed up on an empty beach 3 1/2 billion years
ago. You are a mere grab bag of atomic particles, a conglomeration of
genetic substance. You exist on a tiny planet in a minute solar system
in an empty corner of a meaningless universe. You came from nothing and
are going nowhere."

In the Christian view, by contrast, "You are the special creation of a
good and all-powerful God. You are the climax of His creation. Not only
is your kind unique, but you are unique among your kind. Your Creator
loves you so much and so intensely desires your companionship and
affection that He gave the life of His only son that you might spend
eternity with him."

Now imagine two groups of people -- let's call them the Secular Tribe
and the Religious Tribe -- who subscribe to one of these two views.
Which of the two is more likely to survive, prosper and multiply? The
religious tribe is made up of people who have an animating sense of
purpose. The secular tribe is made up of people who are not sure why
they exist at all. The religious tribe is composed of individuals who
view their every thought and action as consequential. The secular tribe
is made up of matter that cannot explain why it is able to think at
all.

Should evolutionists like Dennett, Dawkins, Harris and Wilson be
surprised, then, to see that religious tribes are flourishing around
the world? Across the globe, religious faith is thriving and religious
people are having more children. By contrast, atheist conventions only
draw a handful of embittered souls, and the atheist lifestyle seems to
produce listless tribes that cannot even reproduce themselves.

Russia is one of the most atheist countries in the world, and there
abortions outnumber live births 2 to 1. Russia's birth rate has fallen
so low that the nation is now losing 700,000 people a year. Japan,
perhaps the most secular country in Asia, is also on a kind of
population diet: its 130 million people are expected to drop to around
100 million in the next few decades. And then there is Europe. The most
secular continent on the globe is decadent in the literal sense that
its population is rapidly shrinking. Lacking the strong Christian
identity that produced its greatness, atheist Europe seems to be a
civilization on its way out. We have met Nietzsche's "last man" and his
name is Sven.

Traditionally, scholars have tried to give an economic explanation for
these trends. The general idea is that population was a function of
affluence. Sociologists noted that as people and countries became
richer, they had fewer children. Presumably, primitive societies needed
children to help in the fields, and more-prosperous societies no longer
did. From this perspective, religion was explained as a phenomenon of
poverty, insecurity and fear, and many pundits predicted that with the
spread of modernity and prosperity, religion would fade away.

The economic explanation is now being questioned. It was never all that
plausible anyway. Undoubtedly, poor people are more economically
dependent on their children, but on the other hand, rich people can
afford more children. Wealthy people in America today tend to have one
child or none, but wealthy families in the past tended to have three or
more children. The real difference is not merely in the level of
income. The real difference is that in the past, children were valued
as gifts from God, and now they are viewed by many people as
instruments of self-gratification. The old principle was, "Be fruitful
and multiply." The new one is, "Have as many children as enhance your
lifestyle."

The prophets of the disappearance of religion seem to have proven
themselves to be false prophets. Even though the world is becoming
richer, religion seems to be getting stronger. The United States is the
richest and most technologically advanced society in the world, and
religion shows no signs of disappearing on these shores. China and
India are growing in affluence, and the Chinese government is not
exactly hospitable to religion, yet religious belief and practice
continue to be strong in both countries. Europe's best chance to grow
in the future seems to be to import more religious Muslims. While Islam
spreads in Europe and elsewhere, Christianity is spreading even faster
in Africa, Asia and South America. Remarkably, Christianity will soon
become a non-Western religion with a minority presence among Europeans.


My conclusion is that it is not religion but atheism that requires a
Darwinian explanation. It seems perplexing why nature would breed a
group of people who see no purpose to life or the universe, indeed
whose only moral drive seems to be sneering at their fellow human
beings who do have a sense of purpose. Here is where the biological
expertise of Dawkins and his friends could prove illuminating. Maybe
they can turn their Darwinian lens on themselves and help us understand
how atheism, like the human tailbone and the panda's thumb, somehow
survived as an evolutionary leftover of our primitive past.


Dinesh D'Souza's new book "The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and Its
Responsibility for 9/11" will be published in January by Doubleday. He
is the Rishwain Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Contact us at
insight@sfchronicle.com.

Page E - 3

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/22/INGA9LRRPN1.DTL

Should evolutionists like Dennett, Dawkins, Harris and Wilson be
surprised, then, to see that religious tribes are flourishing around
the world? Across the globe, religious faith is thriving and religious
people are having more children. By contrast, atheist conventions only
draw a handful of embittered souls, and the atheist lifestyle seems to
produce listless tribes that cannot even reproduce themselves.

The economic explanation is now being questioned. It was never all that
plausible anyway. Undoubtedly, poor people are more economically
dependent on their children, but on the other hand, rich people can
afford more children. Wealthy people in America today tend to have one
child or none, but wealthy families in the past tended to have three or
more children. The real difference is not merely in the level of
income. The real difference is that in the past, children were valued
as gifts from God, and now they are viewed by many people as
instruments of self-gratification. The old principle was, "Be fruitful
and multiply." The new one is, "Have as many children as enhance your
lifestyle."

God knows why faith is thriving

Dinesh D'Souza

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Why Faith Is Thriving, While Atheism Is Dying

A group of leading atheists is puzzled by the continued existence and
vitality of religion.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/22/INGA9LRRPN1.DTL


God knows why faith is thriving

Dinesh D'Souza

Sunday, October 22, 2006



A group of leading atheists is puzzled by the continued existence and
vitality of religion.

As biologist Richard Dawkins puts it in his new book "The God
Delusion," faith is a form of irrationality, what he terms a "virus of
the mind." Philosopher Daniel Dennett compares belief in God to belief
in the Easter Bunny. Sam Harris, author of "The End of Faith" and now
"Letter to a Christian Nation," professes amazement that hundreds of
millions of people worldwide profess religious beliefs when there is no
rational evidence for any of those beliefs. Biologist E.O. Wilson says
there must be some evolutionary explanation for the universality and
pervasiveness of religious belief.

Actually, there is. The Rev. Ron Carlson, a popular author and
lecturer, sometimes presents his audience with two stories and asks
them whether it matters which one is true.

In the secular account, "You are the descendant of a tiny cell of
primordial protoplasm washed up on an empty beach 3 1/2 billion years
ago. You are a mere grab bag of atomic particles, a conglomeration of
genetic substance. You exist on a tiny planet in a minute solar system
in an empty corner of a meaningless universe. You came from nothing and
are going nowhere."

In the Christian view, by contrast, "You are the special creation of a
good and all-powerful God. You are the climax of His creation. Not only
is your kind unique, but you are unique among your kind. Your Creator
loves you so much and so intensely desires your companionship and
affection that He gave the life of His only son that you might spend
eternity with him."

Now imagine two groups of people -- let's call them the Secular Tribe
and the Religious Tribe -- who subscribe to one of these two views.
Which of the two is more likely to survive, prosper and multiply? The
religious tribe is made up of people who have an animating sense of
purpose. The secular tribe is made up of people who are not sure why
they exist at all. The religious tribe is composed of individuals who
view their every thought and action as consequential. The secular tribe
is made up of matter that cannot explain why it is able to think at
all.

Should evolutionists like Dennett, Dawkins, Harris and Wilson be
surprised, then, to see that religious tribes are flourishing around
the world? Across the globe, religious faith is thriving and religious
people are having more children. By contrast, atheist conventions only
draw a handful of embittered souls, and the atheist lifestyle seems to
produce listless tribes that cannot even reproduce themselves.

Russia is one of the most atheist countries in the world, and there
abortions outnumber live births 2 to 1. Russia's birth rate has fallen
so low that the nation is now losing 700,000 people a year. Japan,
perhaps the most secular country in Asia, is also on a kind of
population diet: its 130 million people are expected to drop to around
100 million in the next few decades. And then there is Europe. The most
secular continent on the globe is decadent in the literal sense that
its population is rapidly shrinking. Lacking the strong Christian
identity that produced its greatness, atheist Europe seems to be a
civilization on its way out. We have met Nietzsche's "last man" and his
name is Sven.

Traditionally, scholars have tried to give an economic explanation for
these trends. The general idea is that population was a function of
affluence. Sociologists noted that as people and countries became
richer, they had fewer children. Presumably, primitive societies needed
children to help in the fields, and more-prosperous societies no longer
did. From this perspective, religion was explained as a phenomenon of
poverty, insecurity and fear, and many pundits predicted that with the
spread of modernity and prosperity, religion would fade away.

The economic explanation is now being questioned. It was never all that
plausible anyway. Undoubtedly, poor people are more economically
dependent on their children, but on the other hand, rich people can
afford more children. Wealthy people in America today tend to have one
child or none, but wealthy families in the past tended to have three or
more children. The real difference is not merely in the level of
income. The real difference is that in the past, children were valued
as gifts from God, and now they are viewed by many people as
instruments of self-gratification. The old principle was, "Be fruitful
and multiply." The new one is, "Have as many children as enhance your
lifestyle."

The prophets of the disappearance of religion seem to have proven
themselves to be false prophets. Even though the world is becoming
richer, religion seems to be getting stronger. The United States is the
richest and most technologically advanced society in the world, and
religion shows no signs of disappearing on these shores. China and
India are growing in affluence, and the Chinese government is not
exactly hospitable to religion, yet religious belief and practice
continue to be strong in both countries. Europe's best chance to grow
in the future seems to be to import more religious Muslims. While Islam
spreads in Europe and elsewhere, Christianity is spreading even faster
in Africa, Asia and South America. Remarkably, Christianity will soon
become a non-Western religion with a minority presence among Europeans.


My conclusion is that it is not religion but atheism that requires a
Darwinian explanation. It seems perplexing why nature would breed a
group of people who see no purpose to life or the universe, indeed
whose only moral drive seems to be sneering at their fellow human
beings who do have a sense of purpose. Here is where the biological
expertise of Dawkins and his friends could prove illuminating. Maybe
they can turn their Darwinian lens on themselves and help us understand
how atheism, like the human tailbone and the panda's thumb, somehow
survived as an evolutionary leftover of our primitive past.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/22/INGA9LRRPN1.DTL


God knows why faith is thriving

Dinesh D'Souza

Sunday, October 22, 2006



A group of leading atheists is puzzled by the continued existence and
vitality of religion.

As biologist Richard Dawkins puts it in his new book "The God
Delusion," faith is a form of irrationality, what he terms a "virus of
the mind." Philosopher Daniel Dennett compares belief in God to belief
in the Easter Bunny. Sam Harris, author of "The End of Faith" and now
"Letter to a Christian Nation," professes amazement that hundreds of
millions of people worldwide profess religious beliefs when there is no
rational evidence for any of those beliefs. Biologist E.O. Wilson says
there must be some evolutionary explanation for the universality and
pervasiveness of religious belief.

Actually, there is. The Rev. Ron Carlson, a popular author and
lecturer, sometimes presents his audience with two stories and asks
them whether it matters which one is true.

In the secular account, "You are the descendant of a tiny cell of
primordial protoplasm washed up on an empty beach 3 1/2 billion years
ago. You are a mere grab bag of atomic particles, a conglomeration of
genetic substance. You exist on a tiny planet in a minute solar system
in an empty corner of a meaningless universe. You came from nothing and
are going nowhere."

In the Christian view, by contrast, "You are the special creation of a
good and all-powerful God. You are the climax of His creation. Not only
is your kind unique, but you are unique among your kind. Your Creator
loves you so much and so intensely desires your companionship and
affection that He gave the life of His only son that you might spend
eternity with him."

Now imagine two groups of people -- let's call them the Secular Tribe
and the Religious Tribe -- who subscribe to one of these two views.
Which of the two is more likely to survive, prosper and multiply? The
religious tribe is made up of people who have an animating sense of
purpose. The secular tribe is made up of people who are not sure why
they exist at all. The religious tribe is composed of individuals who
view their every thought and action as consequential. The secular tribe
is made up of matter that cannot explain why it is able to think at
all.

Should evolutionists like Dennett, Dawkins, Harris and Wilson be
surprised, then, to see that religious tribes are flourishing around
the world?

Across the globe, religious faith is thriving and religious
people are having more children. By contrast, atheist conventions only
draw a handful of embittered souls, and the atheist lifestyle seems to
produce listless tribes that cannot even reproduce themselves.

Russia is one of the most atheist countries in the world, and there
abortions outnumber live births 2 to 1. Russia's birth rate has fallen
so low that the nation is now losing 700,000 people a year. Japan,
perhaps the most secular country in Asia, is also on a kind of
population diet: its 130 million people are expected to drop to around
100 million in the next few decades. And then there is Europe. The most
secular continent on the globe is decadent in the literal sense that
its population is rapidly shrinking. Lacking the strong Christian
identity that produced its greatness, atheist Europe seems to be a
civilization on its way out. We have met Nietzsche's "last man" and his
name is Sven.

Traditionally, scholars have tried to give an economic explanation for
these trends. The general idea is that population was a function of
affluence. Sociologists noted that as people and countries became
richer, they had fewer children. Presumably, primitive societies needed
children to help in the fields, and more-prosperous societies no longer
did. From this perspective, religion was explained as a phenomenon of
poverty, insecurity and fear, and many pundits predicted that with the
spread of modernity and prosperity, religion would fade away.

The economic explanation is now being questioned. It was never all that
plausible anyway. Undoubtedly, poor people are more economically
dependent on their children, but on the other hand, rich people can
afford more children. Wealthy people in America today tend to have one
child or none, but wealthy families in the past tended to have three or
more children. The real difference is not merely in the level of
income. The real difference is that in the past, children were valued
as gifts from God, and now they are viewed by many people as
instruments of self-gratification. The old principle was, "Be fruitful
and multiply." The new one is, "Have as many children as enhance your
lifestyle."

The prophets of the disappearance of religion seem to have proven
themselves to be false prophets. Even though the world is becoming
richer, religion seems to be getting stronger. The United States is the
richest and most technologically advanced society in the world, and
religion shows no signs of disappearing on these shores. China and
India are growing in affluence, and the Chinese government is not
exactly hospitable to religion, yet religious belief and practice
continue to be strong in both countries. Europe's best chance to grow
in the future seems to be to import more religious Muslims. While Islam
spreads in Europe and elsewhere, Christianity is spreading even faster
in Africa, Asia and South America. Remarkably, Christianity will soon
become a non-Western religion with a minority presence among Europeans.


My conclusion is that it is not religion but atheism that requires a
Darwinian explanation.

It seems perplexing why nature would breed a
group of people who see no purpose to life or the universe, indeed
whose only moral drive seems to be sneering at their fellow human
beings who do have a sense of purpose.

Here is where the biological
expertise of Dawkins and his friends could prove illuminating. Maybe
they can turn their Darwinian lens on themselves and help us understand
how atheism, like the human tailbone and the panda's thumb, somehow
survived as an evolutionary leftover of our primitive past.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/22/INGA9LRRPN1.DTL


God knows why faith is thriving

Sunday, October 22, 2006



A group of leading atheists is puzzled by the continued existence and
vitality of religion.

Actually, there is. The Rev. Ron Carlson, a popular author and
lecturer, sometimes presents his audience with two stories and asks
them whether it matters which one is true.

In the secular account, "You are the descendant of a tiny cell of
primordial protoplasm washed up on an empty beach 3 1/2 billion years
ago. You are a mere grab bag of atomic particles, a conglomeration of
genetic substance. You exist on a tiny planet in a minute solar system
in an empty corner of a meaningless universe. You came from nothing and
are going nowhere."

In the Christian view, by contrast, "You are the special creation of a
good and all-powerful God. You are the climax of His creation. Not only
is your kind unique, but you are unique among your kind. Your Creator
loves you so much and so intensely desires your companionship and
affection that He gave the life of His only son that you might spend
eternity with him."

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/22/INGA9LRRPN1.DTL


God knows why faith is thriving

Dinesh D'Souza

Sunday, October 22, 2006
Now imagine two groups of people -- let's call them the Secular Tribe
and the Religious Tribe -- who subscribe to one of these two views.
Which of the two is more likely to survive, prosper and multiply? The
religious tribe is made up of people who have an animating sense of
purpose. The secular tribe is made up of people who are not sure why
they exist at all. The religious tribe is composed of individuals who
view their every thought and action as consequential. The secular tribe
is made up of matter that cannot explain why it is able to think at
all.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/22/INGA9LRRPN1.DTL


God knows why faith is thriving

Dinesh D'Souza

Sunday, October 22, 2006



A group of leading atheists is puzzled by the continued existence and
vitality of religion.

As biologist Richard Dawkins puts it in his new book "The God
Delusion," faith is a form of irrationality, what he terms a "virus of
the mind." Philosopher Daniel Dennett compares belief in God to belief
in the Easter Bunny. Sam Harris, author of "The End of Faith" and now
"Letter to a Christian Nation," professes amazement that hundreds of
millions of people worldwide profess religious beliefs when there is no
rational evidence for any of those beliefs. Biologist E.O. Wilson says
there must be some evolutionary explanation for the universality and
pervasiveness of religious belief.

Actually, there is. The Rev. Ron Carlson, a popular author and
lecturer, sometimes presents his audience with two stories and asks
them whether it matters which one is true.

In the secular account, "You are the descendant of a tiny cell of
primordial protoplasm washed up on an empty beach 3 1/2 billion years
ago. You are a mere grab bag of atomic particles, a conglomeration of
genetic substance. You exist on a tiny planet in a minute solar system
in an empty corner of a meaningless universe. You came from nothing and
are going nowhere."

In the Christian view, by contrast, "You are the special creation of a
good and all-powerful God. You are the climax of His creation. Not only
is your kind unique, but you are unique among your kind. Your Creator
loves you so much and so intensely desires your companionship and
affection that He gave the life of His only son that you might spend
eternity with him."

Now imagine two groups of people -- let's call them the Secular Tribe
and the Religious Tribe -- who subscribe to one of these two views.
Which of the two is more likely to survive, prosper and multiply? The
religious tribe is made up of people who have an animating sense of
purpose. The secular tribe is made up of people who are not sure why
they exist at all. The religious tribe is composed of individuals who
view their every thought and action as consequential. The secular tribe
is made up of matter that cannot explain why it is able to think at