Discussing the origins of religious belief

When Karl Marx characterized religion as "the opiate of the masses," he was right about one thing: Religion is a widespread "drug" — and by far the most popular. Gaze at the paintings or sculptures in the art museum, open a newspaper — the thought of God is everywhere.

Currently, for example, the U.S. Mint is trying to solve the problem caused by the discovery that the words "In God We Trust" are missing on an uncertain number of the new $1 coins put into circulation. On the other side of the world, a group of 200 priests, nuns and secular South Korean Catholics are asking God to make the free trade agreement between their country and the United States fail in order to protect their farmers.

Even comic-book heroes are painted as religious: Suppositions have been made that Superman Methodist, Spiderman is Protestant, The Thing is Jewish, Elektra is Greek Protestant and Daredevil is Catholic. As for Wolverine, he seems to be a former atheist who turns Buddhist. The Internet has not escaped from this God "fever": Several websites give advice to "start your church online."

There are about 500 different religious stories concerning the origin of the world. As for the United States, an article in The New York Times shows that the religiousness of the travelers on the Mayflower has not disappeared — 92 percent of Americans believe in god, and about seven out of 10 in angels and miracles. Why do we have this omnipresence of religious belief?

Some psychologists, such as Edward Wilson, believe that religious belief has evolved and persisted because it favors group survival and fertility. The very word "religion" comes from the Latin "religio," which means "to bind together." Throughout evolutionary history, according to Wilson, being part of a very structured group, closely united by religious belief, was a selective advantage. Some behaviors that were harmful to a tribe's cohesion, such as adultery, would have been progressively punished as faults against religion. This idea of religion serving the purpose of the cohesion of a group is evident in former President George H.W. Bush's statement — "No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God."

Several philosophers also saw religion as very functional. For Freud, the better a religion could explain the origin of evil, the significance of death and provide compensation for mortality, the longer it would survive. Religion "derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires." Even for Hegel, religion was linked to the development of human capacities: In the childhood of humanity, Egyptians worshiped gods formed as animals. During the rise of Greek civilization, an adolescent humanity started to worship gods formed as humans. Attaining maturity at last, humans started to worship a Judeo-Christian God who surpasses all forms. Voltaire joked about this Judeo-Christian creation when he said that "If God has created us in His image, we have more than returned the compliment."

Much has also been written about religion being harmful to human progress. Karl Marx was not the only one to believe that religion is the opiate of the masses. The game "battleground God" on the internet aims to prove that our belief in god is not logical, but self-contradicting. A recent study comparing religious America to more secular European states sought to prove that more religiousness was correlated with higher crime rates, juvenile abortions, etc.

Nevertheless, I feel this recent study misses the point: If religion fails to bring a selective advantage to its followers, the persistence of religious belief is evermore difficult to explain rationally. If it is not useful, why do we have this "God-shaped vacuum in every heart" (Blaise Pascal)? Could it really only be an evolutionary byproduct?

If religion is indeed a popular drug, it is, dear Karl, less harmful than opium. And though there is still no certainty on its origin, we should accept the presence of religious belief in its different forms. As Thomas Jefferson put it: "It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." Soleine Leprince, an exchange student, is a history and international and public affairs major from Paris, France. She may be reached at leprince@princeton.edu.