Every human perception is shaped by underlying assumptions, of which we are aware only partially. For example, Western thinking has been shaped (at least since the classic Greeks) by a strong preference for dualisms: Human and Animal, True and False, Good and Evil, Body and Soul, Brain and Mind, Nature and Culture etc. Although the discovery of evolution clearly bridged these distinctions, they creeped back into place again and again, especially in Western perceptions of sciences. For example, we owe the discovery of distinct cultural traditions among non-human primates to Japanese primatologists (honoured in a beautiful book by Frans de Waal), whose Western successors i.e. as Jane Goodall nevertheless had to fight strong prejudices against giving chimpanzees individual names, attributing them emotions etc. to this day. 

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Among most scholars in the thriving field of evolutionary studies on religion, findings of burials are perceived as the first strong indicators of phenotypes evolving religiosity - that is: behavior towards supernatural agents (as ancestors, spirits or gods). Interestingly, these peculiar behaviors evolved not only in Homo sapiens, but also in Homo neanderthalensis.

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As the demographic implosion of secular populations and the higher birth rates of the religious especially among wealthy and educated are acknowledged by more and more people, two different sides of the medal are perceived. My research is focussed on the biocultural explanation and long-term biological effects of religion(s) on fertility, that is: The (ongoing, maybe even accelerating) evolution of religious behavior. But there are, of course, increasingly observable, short-term effects in the societal, cultural and political sphere, too. And there are bright young scholars exploring them as Eric Kaufmann, former research fellow in Harvard and currently Reader in Politics and Sociology, Birbeck, University of London, United Kingdom.

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