Modern religion as vestigial structure: an evolutionary account of secularisation

ABSTRACT

This article offers a new solution to a theoretical problem facing scholars attempting to interpret religion and secularisation in light of biological evolution. Some scholars argue that the diversity of religious beliefs and rituals in contemporary societies is compatible with secularisation or even facilitates it by weakening the plausibility structures of any one religion. Other scholars argue that religious diversity is not evidence of a decrease in interest in religion but rather shows the ingenuity of religious entrepreneurs. Here we extend the former school of thought by outlining a theory of the vestigilisation of religion. We describe three key characteristics of vestigial structures (increasing variability, decreasing costliness and the appearance of novel functions) and identify shifts in these characteristics in some religious traits. We argue that this supports the idea that religious diversity is a predictable effect of secularisation.

KEYWORDS:

• Religion
• secularisation
• diversity
• vestigialisation

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank Andrew R. Atkinson for fruitful discussions during the conceptualisation of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The research leading to these results has received funding from the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014–2021 (Project number 2019/34/H/HS1/00654).

Notes on contributors

Konrad Talmont-Kaminski

Konrad Talmont-Kaminski is the Head of the Society & Cognition Unit at the University of Białystok. Trained as a philosopher of science, he has been working in the area of cognitive science of religion. He is currently heading several projects aimed at understanding the social and cognitive mechanisms and conditions underlying secularisation.

F. LeRon Shults

F. LeRon Shults is professor at the Institute for Global Development and Planning at the University of Agder and research professor at the Center for Modeling Social Systems at NORCE. He has published over 20 books and nearly 200 scientific articles on topics such as cognitive science of religion, social simulation, and philosophy of science.