Religion: A cultural universal?

       Religion has been an interest to anthropologists and archaeologists since the beginning of those respective fields. Religion is such an important facet in human history and our present that it has become a main focus of many studies of culture and biology. E.B. Tylor is credited with one of the first definitions of religion, that religion "is the belief in spiritual beings" (Winzeler, 2012: 4). This definition might seem overly simplified to many religious persons out there but at its core religion really is a faith that there is a being or are beings of supernatural power either in the world or shaping the world. In the beginning Tylor felt that religion was lacking in various societies (Winzeler, 3). However, today it is assumed that all societies have religion but there are different degrees to religion.

     It is my belief that religion is a cultural universal. A cultural universal means that no matter where you are the culture possesses this trait. Other well known cultural universals are language, measured units of time, and classification. There are many cultural universals so that is definitely not an exhaustive list. The reason I believe religion to be a cultural universal is simply that you can go to any community of people in the world and there will be members of the community who believe in some spiritual being or beings. "Anthropologists are now confident that religion is present in all human societies, even though they may lack a traditional word for religion in their own language and therefore do not separate "religion" from other realms of culture" (Winzeler, 3).

     Religion is a part of one's identity. I myself have visited and been a part of ceremonies at a Hindu temple in Singapore, a Buddhist temple in South Korea, a Voodoo altar in New Orleans, a Confucian temple in China, a Muslim mosque in Indonesia, a Jewish feast here in Florida, many different branches of Christian service in North and South America, a Pagan feast here in Florida, and a reenactment of praise to the Roman pantheon in Italy. Although this seems like a wide variety of religious experience it in fact is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to observing religion. There are more religions in this world than we can even count and even if you were to look at the major religions they have many, many offshoots.

Wat Pho - Bangkok, Thailand

Sultan's Palace - Singapore

Sri Mariamman Temple - Singapore

     There is a great deal of research to suggest that religion has been an evolutionary adaptation created since as far back as Neanderthal and possibly further. At this point there really isn't any specific gene reference to say that it is a biological enhancement that has enhanced human survival or changed our reproductive success rates (Winzeler, 38). We can at least see an evolution of religion, going from a belief in theriomorphic deities (theriomorphic meaning deities that manifest as either animalistic or hybrid spiritual guardians such as those worshipped by Native American, Indian and Egyptian cultures), to a pantheon of deities with very human physical characteristics (such as those worshipped by the Greek or Roman cultures), to a belief in one spiritual human deity (such as those worshipped in Christian, Jewish and Muslim cultures). This is not to say that there are not still religions that believe in both theriomorphic and polytheistic deities. Also our ways of praising these deities has changed a great deal as blood sacrifice has become very rare, and material sacrifice has moved into more of a monetary sacrifice.

     It seems like religion is a universal that may be changing at a slow evolutionary pace. As agnosticism and atheism are becoming a bigger statistic across the world, is it possible that religion will evolve out of our day to day lives? It's important to consider what religion's role in the future will be and what more we can gleam from the origins of religion. What do you think?

References:

Winzeler, Robert L.
2012. Anthropology and Religion: What we Know, Think, and Question. Lanham, MD: Altamira Press.

Suggested Further Reading:

The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by Sir James George Frazer

Call number: BL310.F8 1963

The Anthroplogy of Religion, Magic, and Witchcraft by Rebecca and Phillip Stein

Call number: GN470.S73 2010