Re: Ch. 5 - THE ROOTS OF RELIGION
I have enjoyed reading the book up to this chapter, where I begin to loose momentum.
In particular, I feel a bit uncomfortable when Dawkins comes up with the idea that religion is a by-product of evolution, and thus undermining the power of evolution for those who believe in it. (I myself is NOT a believer of evolution).
I think he himself also finds his point weak. This is why he spends a lot of pages trying to explain his idea. He even comes up with an experiment that has never been carried out. But he presumes the outcomes anyway.
Here is my doubt. If you are a real evolutionist, everything that survives a long period must be useful in some sense. Either we can explain its function or we cannot. We cannot just praise those that we like, and for the rest we label them as by-products, or useless pieces that are just lying there for no reason (i.e., by chance).
I think it is alright for the believers of evolution to admit that religion has its usefulness in the evolution of human kind. Whether it is a 'delusion' or not is not the point here.
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