S upernatural Selection This page intentionally left blank Supernatural Selection HOW RELIGION EVOLVED Matt J. Rossano 2010 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offi ces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2010 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rossano, Matthew J. Supernatural selection : how religion evolved / Matt J. Rossano. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-19-538581-6 1. Religion. 2. Human evolution—Religious aspects. I. Title. BL430.R67 2010 200.9—dc22 2009029518 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Contents Acknowledgments v ii Introduction 1 1. Natural Relationships and Supernatural Relationships 1 6 2. Making a Good Impression 3 7 3. “Every Move You Make”: First Signs of the Supernatural Eye 6 0 4. The African Interregnum, Part I: Good Rituals Make Good Friends 7 9 5. The African Interregnum, Part II: The Evolution of Supernatural Imagination 1 03 6. Before and After the Interregnum: The Evolution of the Two “Modes” of Religion 1 27 7. Religion Is (or Was) an Adaptation 1 51 8. Religion and Morality 1 74 9. Religion’s Past and Future 1 97 Notes 2 11 References 2 37 Index 2 89 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments As always I am indebted fi rst and foremost to my family for their patience and support over the course of writing this book. Thanks also to my col- leagues in the Thursday science and religion lunch group who were unfail- ingly skeptical, incisive, and insightful as they scoured my every idea for weakness and imprecision. Similarly, my editor at Oxford, Theo Calderara, pounced unmercifully upon my frequent lapses into dense jargon and impenetrable prose. If my writing is clear and my thinking forceful, then much of it is due to those mentioned above. Of course, the mistakes, misin- terpretations, and inclinations toward simplemindedness and muddle- headedness are all mine. vii This page intentionally left blank S upernatural Selection