Useful Delusions: The Power and Paradox of the Self-Deceiving Brain

by Shankar Vedantam

The immortality narratives fit perfectly with terror management theory. Religion, like culture and nationalism, can provide us with a bulwark against the fear of death. Various studies have demonstrated this idea.

Just as animals that are better adapted to their local environments outcompete animals that are less well adapted, groups with religious beliefs outcompeted groups that did not have such mechanisms to enforce group cohesion and solidarity.

The notion that religion is a force produced by cultural evolution, and that it primarily exists to produce functional benefits to individuals and groups can also explain why religions are in decline in some parts of the world. As human societies created nations, and devised mechanisms for self-governance, the punitive gods who were so effective at enforcing group norms and ethical behavior were no longer as necessary. Soldiers from diverse faiths could now be inspired to fight and die for the same country, instead of the same god.

Many people hold false beliefs not because they are in love with falsehoods, or because they are stupid—as conventional wisdom might suggest—but because those beliefs help them hold their lives together in some way. Perhaps the delusion provides comfort against anxiety, or a defense against insecurity.