The evidence for religion being nothing more than an evolutionary adaption is there for all to see, yet few are brave enough to come out and say it outside of the pages of dry journals about anthropolgy, evolution and neurology. The forces of religion are as strong, if not stronger, than they were before the Renaissance, when zealotry and bigotry bestrode the land destroying all that dared question God. In America, the world's last remaining superpower, religion is everywhere from run-down trailer parks to the White House, and those that dare to question its beliefs are mocked and derided, or even marked for death. Is it any wonder that the evidence is so little known?

But what is the evidence? It rests upon the science of sociobiology, which explains how many human behaviours are based upon our biological nature - or more specifically by genetically-directed traits that arose through natural selection to further the goal of passing on our DNA as successfully as possible. And while it must be noted that as thinking beings we can override our genetic predispositions to certain behaviours, many of them are so unconscious that they can rule our lives with an iron fist from which few escape.

While sociobology obviously deals with individual behaviour patterns, it also has a subtle effect on group behaviours as well through "gene-culture coevolution". What this says is that while individual genetic tendancies influence how a group acts, the cultural influences of the group also influence natural selection through the mechanism of favouring individuals that display traits that the group holds to be worthwhile. Such favoured individuals are more likely to be successful breeders, and their DNA will come to dominate those that do not share this valued genetic traits.

So how does this apply to religion? Religion satisfies several needs which tend to make people happier and more productive, traits which make them more valuable to a primitive society. Firstly religion explains the unknown, and serves to make it less mysterious and frightening. Secondly it provides a way for people to deal with the fundamental questions of existance - why we are here and what happens when we die for instance. By having the concept of reincarnation or an afterlife with some kind of reward and punishment mechanism, it both allays people's fear of death and encourages them to be better members of society. It also provides a way to encourage social cohesiveness through the bonds of a shared religion, which serves to keep members of the group leaving and weakening it as a whole.

For all these reasons and more religious behavioural patterns would be beneficial to a society, and those members that had them would be more successful, outbreeding those without such traits. And the vast number of religions in the world supports this - while they differ in details, they all share the same traits of explaining the unknown, allaying fears and increasing social bonding. And so, as soon as the first primitive societies formed, religious genes began to inflitrate our DNA, providing benefits to those societies whose members had them.

Additional evidence comes from the fact that so-called "mystical" experiences have a known and tested neurological explaination. When praying humans experience depressed activity in the orientation association area of their brains, the area which separates the self from everything else and allows us to move without constantly walking into things. Depressed activity in this brain area would lead to feelings of a loss of separation of self and the rest of the Universe; of being "at one" with everything - consistent with descriptions of religious ecstacy.

All this would be well and good if religion today played the same beneficial role in helping people work and live together in groups, making people happier and more productive. But look in any paper or history book and you see a different story - religious persecution, holy wars, rejection of knowledge, inquisitions, pogroms, child abuse and a whole host of other evils. Throughout the last two thousand years religion has killed more people than any other cause, and its influence upon the human mind and human society has given rise to a host of less obvious evils - cultural imperialism, overpopulation, terrorism, illness and ignorance. All of these things are hugely detrimental to the evolution of humanity, and even its survival is uncertain in the face of the blind hatred and xenophobia religion inspires.

Of course, there is a solution to this malaise. Despite opposition from religious groups afraid of losing their control over their herds, the science of genetic engineering has advanced in leaps and bounds in the last thirty years, and such marvels of modern science as the Human Genome Project are providing us with ever increased understanding of the workings of our genetic codes. Scientists are finding out the genetic mechanisms for our phenotype, inherited illnesses and even aging and death - surely it isn't beyond belief that a concerted effort could be made to discover the exact locations and functions of the religious genes that exert such a pathological influence! And then, once these genes have been located, it is only a matter of time and study before we can determine how to turn them off and render them harmless.

Once we have this knowledge it only takes courage then to take the final step towards liberation, to begin the large-scale modification of humanity's germ-line to prevent further inheritance of such dangerous genetic codes. Only then will humanity truly be free to move from barbarism under the yoke of religion to an enlightened future in which we can make our own decisions based upon ethics and logic for the good of all.

Unfortunately it is all too likely that faced with the threat of extinction, religious fanatics around the world will, like any rabid animal backed into a corner, respond with violent attack against those that threaten their existance. This must not stop us from doing what it right, and we must not hate these people - they are merely slaves of their genetic imperatives, not truly evil. In the long run, our actions will benefit their children as well as our own, and future generations will thank us.