Religion could die out as people get Richer

                A wealthier population could mean the end of religion. The group of academics suggest that the world’s major religions, including Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism, emerged as an evolutionary emerged as an evolutionary response to the differences in lifestyle between wealthy elites and other poorer communities. Affluence and wealth caused humans to have a “slower” lifestyle. Absolute affluence has predictable effects on human motivation and reward systems, moving individuals away from ‘fast life’ strategies (resources acquisition and coercive interactions) and toward ‘slow life’ strategies (self-control techniques and cooperative interactions).

                The study says living a ‘slow life’ put the elite at an evolutionary disadvantages, as they may have had fewer children, had less to eat and reproduced later in life. In order to offset this disadvantage, the wealthy introduced moralizing religions to the poor as a way to introduce them to ‘slow life’ strategies, therefore offsetting the evolutionary disadvantages the elite faced in being less motivated by acquisition, greed and procreation.

                The study said religious practice itself had been around since before a clear divide in wealth emerged. As affluence become more widespread, moralizing religion could be on its way out. Living a ‘slow’ lifestyle was becoming more common among the general population, with people motivated to cooperate with each other and focus on fulfillment in areas of life that are not just physical – which means there is less need for moralizing religions to control the behavior of a large poor population.