Once and again, I have experienced heated debates whether "religion" qualifies as an adaptation, an exaptation or "only" as an epiphenomenon. The problem is: Although religion may be described as behaviour towards supernatural agents, there is no consensus available about the exact meaning of the other, biological terms. In fact, most of these cloudy discussions turn out to be rather ideological and emotional debates without much empirical foundation. For anyone really interested in evolutionary science, it is high time to proceed beyond!

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These last days, we have witnessed a piece of history in religions and politics: US-President Barack Hussein Obama giving an interreligious speech as a Christian to Muslims worldwide, using scientifc studies of Gallup for preparation, circumventing extremists and authoritarian regimes by inviting religious and scientific scholars, opposition leaders and human rights activists - and especially by using the new possibilities of the Internet. Hundreds of Millions have yet heard his message, thousands more taking and discussing the speech in this very moment. As extremists and nationalists, who used to abuse Muslim, Christian, Jewish and other teachings to incite fear and violence, are fuming, pro-peace, pro-dialogue and pro-democracy voices among the religious people are growing in confidence and strength. And there are fresh voices around: Robert Wright did an analysis from the perspective of evolutionary religious studies. Here is the video and complete text of Obama's speech.

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