Evolution (both biological and religious) leads to Stronger Identity

In my previous blog entitled “Why Hitler was as powerful as a Religion” I discuss the importance of humans’ emotions in harnessing the power of large populations. Religion is effective at building communities because it uses this power to create a common identity among people. However, after reading and discussing the Kebra Negast, I believe that the issue of identity/community and how it relates to religion is more complex than I originally perceived.

As we discussed in class, nationalism is a tool that also uses humans’ emotions to build identity. In this sense, nationalism and religion are very similar, and can have very similar results such as war, monument construction, etc. Thus in the interest of building community it would be advantageous to combine the powers of nationalism with those of religion.

The combination of religion and nationalism is essentially what Kebra Negast achieves for Ethiopia and Christianity. A direct connection is made between the country of Ethiopia and Christianity in the section entitled “Concerning the Division of the Earth.”


“From the middle of Jerusalem, and from the north thereof to the south-east is the portion of the Emperor of Rom; and from the middle of Jerusalem from the north thereof to the south and to the Western India is the portion of the Emperor of Ethiopia. For both of them are the seed of Shem, the son of Noah, the seed of Abraham, the seed of David, the children of Solomon.” Kebra Negast Pg. 16


This passage clearly links Ethiopia directly with important Christian history. This connection strengthens and distinguishes the identity of Ethiopian Christians.

So how does this change the way I view the relationship between religion and community? An evolutionary approach to human development has lead to the idea that religion is a product of natural selection. It builds identity among groups of people which encourages individuals to act in the interest of ‘the many’ rather than ‘the few’. It is important to recognize then that religion was only evolutionarily advantageous because it instilled a sense of community in humans. One could then make the argument that religion does not directly benefit humans’ survival. Religion has survived natural selection only because its byproduct of exceptional community/identity building directly benefits humans’ survival. I therefore conclude that anything that leads to a stronger identity is, from a survival standpoint, similar to religion. Combining any of these identity builders with religion will result in more faith.