On Religion, Part Four: Presumed Origin

The origin of religion, along with language, music, and art, as some of the products of human civilizations, are not so much understood. But, it is well-established that religion, even though it opposes evolution, in fact emerged from the evolution of human brain. This is why humans alone practice religion because they're the only creatures to have evolved the necessary brain architecture to imagine things and beings that don't physically exist, like souls, and the possibility of life after death. To understand how religion developed, we can observe from individual sphere and social sphere.


Individual Origin


Supernatural concepts are heavily attached to humans' intuition. This intuitive and imaginative ability was first evolved circa 30.000-50.000 years ago, during the Upper Paleolithic, the final end of Stone Age. That time, arts (like petroglyphs, cave paintings), funerary*) artifacts, and more sophisticated and diverse rock tools begun to bloom. This intuition led to "agency detection," that is the tendency to "feel" or register the presence of agency even though there is only inconclusive evidence. "Agency detection" coupled with humans innate desire to find and seek meaning and other novel things led them into primordial supernatural concepts. When primitive humans, for instance, see lightning, which is outside their capability to explain (unlike now, we know how lightning can be formed.) and given its destructive power, loud sound of thunder, and majestic appearance of the lightning, it's easily to ascribe lightning as something that comes from God, or even that there is God of lightning.  If this intuitive capability is somehow diminished, then people will be less likely to believe in God or other supernatural concepts. There are at least three studies to support this:


1. The study that shows that people with autism are less likely to believe in God. It tells us that that religious belief relies on being able to intuitively conceptualize deities as intentional agents with mental states who anticipate and respond to human beliefs, desires and concerns, a capacity known as "mentalizing." Autistic people, lacking the ability to imagine what other people are thinking, are having difficulty in conceiving the notion of a concerned God, and therefore less likely to believe in it.

2. The study that shows that people with analytical thinking are less likely to believe in God. Humans use two separate cognitive systems for processing information: one that is fast, emotional and intuitive, and another that is slower and more analytical. The first system innately assigns purpose, mental state, and personality to objects, leading to supernatural beliefs; but activating analytical thinking can override this intuitive system, leading to disbelief in God.

3. The study that shows that children have a natural propensity to regard the world as intentionally and purposefully designed. They instinctively believe that almost everything has been designed with a specific purpose. It turns out that this bias can extend into adulthood, leading children into religious persons.

Social Origin

How did individual belief then develop into such organized religion? The key is on the size of society. At least until 12.000 years ago, humans lived in relatively small groups which mostly consisted of family or had some sort of familial relationship. Cooperation among them was ensured by kin cooperation and reciprocal altruism. But as the size of the groups grew vast, the interactions with strangers were inevitable and occurred more often, thus humans needed an extra safeguard to ensure the cooperation among them - safeguard to punish the violators and free-riders. Thus religion comes to rescue. Since humans at that time hadn't been able to conceive legal system as what we have nowadays, with its laws, legislators, polices, prosecutors, lawyers, judges, and courts, the idea that there is an omniscient, omnipresent, watchful God made people cooperate and ensuring the contracts. This study tells us that thinking about God makes believers feel as if their behavior is being monitored, and, subsequently, increases their public self-awareness and socially desirable responding.

There are also some studies that support the notion that people will better cooperate if they're under the impression of being watched. This study, for instance, shows that even subtle exposure to drawing resemble eyes encourage good behavior among strangers. Another study shows that children's belief in an invisible person inhibits cheating. Another, shows that believers in omniscient-omnipresent God are more generous than those who believe in deities who aren't as omniscient and as morally concerned. Even, according to this study, exposing people to words like "God," "spirit," and "divine" increases their generosity in economic dictator game.

The role of religion (or belief in God) to maintain social cohesion is perhaps the reason why atheists have the lowest approval ratings of any social group, including other religions. Intolerance of atheists stems from the intuition that people will behave better if they feel that a God is watching them. Thus, outward display of disbelief in a watchful God can be perceived as untrustworthy.

When the concept of omnipotent-omnipresent-omniscient, interventionist, watchful God became increasingly common, religion then intertwined to morality; making the notions of supernatural punishments and blessings, damnation and salvation, heaven and hell, karma, etc. also became more increasingly common. As the society gets even larger, ritual became even more essential, as displays of strict religious devotion such as fasting, taboos, animal sacrifice, martyrdom signify a sincere intention to cooperate. Some prominent figures then rose with the claim that they were chosen by God or ever directly talked to God**). If people believe in them, then they started establishing some rituals and particular definitions/characteristic/descriptions of God and enforced them to other people. If not, then they might be considered crazy. These particular rituals and God concepts were passed to next generation via oral tradition or written scriptures. The era of organized religions thus begun.

Towards Post-religionism?

As development of secular morality such as secular humanism, and also the development of legal system to protect people from violation of each others' rights and/or bind them into their obligations, religion becomes more estranged in human lives. In secular countries, like Scandinavian countries, the role of religion to ensure social cohesion has been replaced by secular concept, yet still somehow retains the happiness and cooperation among their citizens. Interestingly, atheism increases along with the quality of life. First, as to the distribution of atheism in the world, a clear pattern can be seen. Belief in God declines in more developed countries and atheism is concentrated in Europe in countries such as Sweden (64% nonbelievers), Denmark (48%), France (44%) and Germany (42%). In contrast, the incidence of atheism in most sub-Saharan countries is below 1%. The reason that religion loses ground in developed countries can be explained by how religion, with the concept that there is/are God(s) who care to human being and cater their needs, slowly losing its importance in human lives. With the better science, medicines, government safety nets, security, and legal protection, there is less fear and uncertainty in people's daily lives and hence less of a market for religion.


The development of science to replace religion as something that can satisfy human's desire to find meaning and purpose, pushes religion even further. Creationism and intelligent design are challenged by cosmology, physic, and evolutionary biology. The infallibility of Holy Book like Qur'an or Bible is challenged by historical study and textual criticism. The claims of miracle are challenged by chemistry, archaeology, anthropology, and medical science. One thing is left: that belief in God is a subjective experience (thus, there is no way to prove to disprove it.) However, recent developments in evolutionary biology and neuroscience***) have tried to decode the thought process that gives birth to the notions of God and religion. One day, when human mind is finally mapped and it turns out that religion is just a mundane brain phenomenon and there is nothing supernatural or holy about it, what is left from religion? We don't know. But are we ready?

Post Scriptum:

*) Even though burial rites first came 300.000 years ago during Middle Paleolithic, there are still debates whether their purpose has supernatural meaning or just simply honoring the dead.


**) It has been suggested that religious figures like Moses (on Exodus 3 and Exodus 19), Saint Paul (on Acts 9:1-19a, Acts 22:3-16, Acts 26:9-18, and perhaps 2 Corinthians 12:7), and Seventh-day Adventists Church founder Ellen White (who once had brain trauma when she was 9) all had temporal lobe epilepsy, which may cause hallucination. This hallucination could be mistakenly perceived as religious vision or divine encounter. Some even wilder theory suggests that Moses was under the influence of psychedelic plants when Ten Commandments were given.


***) - For instance, the "light tunnel" vision during near death experience/NDE (in which some people ascribed that with a journey to the afterlife) can be explained by hypoxia/cerebral anoxia (lack of oxygen to brain.) When a person enter clinical death, brain is deprived of oxygen supply and higher brain areas (frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, and temporal lobe) in the cortex quickly blank out. The more primitive lower brain area (medulla, pons, midbrain, thalamus, hypothalamus) remains active for several minutes, causes "neural noise," or an overload of information sent to the brain's visual cortex, creating an image of a bright light that gradually grows larger, which may be interpreted as going through a tunnel. NDE can also be explained by a sudden REM sleep state while brain is still awake, that is triggered by extreme stress or trauma. Since the higher brain (to process spatial sense, logic, and bodily perception) is malfunctioning during NDE, sensory inputs that come from lower brain (in which also regulate memory) are not processed, resulting in out-of-body experience (OBE), "traveling in extra dimensions," and encounter with angel, demon, God, or dead people. NDE also triggers brain to release endorphin as coping mechanism, which may cause the tranquil, calm, heavenly sensation. Sensory malfunctioning and euphoric sensation from the endorphin together can be simply mistakenly perceived as "afterlife." See also God helmet.


- OBE or astral projection itself can be explained by malfunctioning in temporal parietal junction, causing brain unable to distinguish what is real or not.


- Transcendental feeling when people are meditating is now linked with increased activity in frontal lobes (makes people having more attention and focus.) The thalamus also shuts down normal sensory input during meditation. The parietal lobes (which regulate our spatial and temporal perception) is also less active. Add to that increased flow of endorphin, giving the sensation of having a sense of timelessness, a suspension of self, a feeling of bliss and being "united with universe."


- Speaking with tongue (glossolalia) is associated with lower activity in frontal lobes - the thinking, willful part of the brain through which people control what they do, as were the language centers. This gives the impression for the speaker that God is taking control of her body, and manifested in some unknown speeches.


- Ghost sighting is liked with infrasonic sound. Because the brain is not used to registering frequency so low (since it's not what is usually heard in normal situation,) it cannot associate such frequency to any object/definition, causing spooky feeling. The low frequency can also cause eyeballs to vibrate slightly due to resonance, and it might alter the vision for split seconds, creating ghostly images.

Theodicy

Di luar sedang hujan, seperti malam-malam sebelumnya di bulan Desember. Perlahan, ia membuka pintu katedral itu. Matanya menyiratkan kebimbangan, antara gentar dan geram, dan dia tidak tahu harus memilih yang mana. Ia melangkahkan kakinya masuk ke bilik pengakuan, sambil memegang erat pistol di balik jasnya, yang baru beberapa saat yang lalu memuntahkan maut. Lalu ia duduk. Terpekur. Dan dengan datar ia berkata kepada Pendeta di balik bilik itu, “Bapa, aku telah berdosa. Baik dalam pikiran dan perbuatan. Dan aku membunuh lagi malam ini.”

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 “Sudah lama sekali sejak aku terakhir datang ke gereja. Mungkin sudah tujuh tahun,” ia menggumam, “Ya. Sudah tujuh tahun.” Badan Pendeta bergetar. Tangannya dingin. Ia takut. Belum pernah sekalipun dalam sepanjang hidupnya, yang sudah ia serahkan kepada Tuhan, ia berbicara kepada seorang pembunuh. Dan dengan jarak yang hanya sepelemparan tangan, ia yakin bahwa hidupnya belum tentu aman. Meskipun dia punya Tuhan.

“Mengapa kau diam saja, Bapa?” Dan baru sesaat Pendeta berpikir untuk melarikan diri, dia mendengar suara dari balik bilik itu. “Kalau kau mencoba keluar, aku akan membunuhmu!” Kilatan dari badan pistol itu terpatri di matanya, dan untuk pertama kali, dia tidak pernah merasa sedekat ini dengan kematian.

“Apa maumu? Apakah kau ke sini untuk meminta pengampunanku? Engkau tentu tahu, bahwa membunuh adalah kejahatan yang paling keji di mata Tuhan. Kau tidak akan diampuni jika kau tidak benar-benar bertobat dari dosamu itu! Kau harus pergi ke polisi. Serahkan dirimu. Dan berdamailah dengan Tuhan!”

“Aku tidak ke sini untuk meminta pengampunan, Bapa. Aku ke sini untuk mengerti.”

“Apa yang ingin kau mengerti?”

“Tiga hari yang lalu, aku membunuh seseorang. Sebelum ia mati, ia meminta waktu padaku untuk berdoa. Dan aku mempersilahkannya.” Pendeta bergidik ngeri. Ia tidak sanggup membayangkan apa yang dialami orang itu. “Aku ingat benar, Bapa, dia mengucapkan ayat-ayat dari Kitab Mazmur. Kurasa Mazmur dua puluh tiga. Aku melihat damai memancar dari matanya. Damai yang belum pernah aku lihat sebelumnya.” Pembunuh itu menghela nafasnya. “Aku merasa, damai itu berasal dari iman. Katakan padaku, Bapa, bagaimana kau dapat beriman pada sesuatu yang tak dapat kau buktikan?”

“Kurasa… karena itulah ia disebut iman. Ia tidak perlu bukti.” Mata si Pembunuh memicing. Kelihatan benar ia tidak puas dengan jawaban Pendeta.

“Kau tahu, Bapa, bahwa iman yang kau ciptakan ini, hanyalah supaya kau merasa nyaman? Nyaman bahwa setelah kau mati jiwamu akan kekal. Nyaman bahwa hidupmu di dunia ini ada artinya. Bagaimana jika semuanya itu ilusi, Bapa? Bagaimana jika tidak ada neraka dan surga? Apakah kau masih beriman pada-Nya?”

“Aku tidak mengerti apa maumu bertanya seperti itu. Kau membunuh setidaknya dua orang! Sadarlah!”

“Oh, bahkan lebih dari itu, Bapa. Aku telah membunuh banyak orang. Dan akan bertambah lagi malam ini.”

“Tolong, berhentilah!” Si Pendeta mulai tidak sanggup lagi mendengarkan Pembunuh itu bercerita. Ada setetes air mata di sudut matanya.

“Nyawa manusia itu berharga di mata Tuhan. Kau tidak boleh sesuka hatimu menghilangkannya! Bertobatlah!’ kata Pendeta itu setengah memohon. “Yang benar saja, Bapa! Tuhan yang di surga membunuh lebih banyak orang daripada aku! Hitung saja! Sudah berapa nyawa yang mati karena nama-Nya?” Kata-kata si Pembunuh mencekik sanubari si Pendeta. Di dalam hati dia pun menyetujui. Bukankah memang sudah banyak darah tertumpah karena nama-Nya?

“Bapa, aku ingin mengerti, kenapa Tuhan yang Maha Kuasa dan Maha Tahu, mengijinkan manusia berbuat sekehendak hati mereka? Mengapa Dia tidak menghentikan kejahatan?”

“Tuhan memberikan manusia kehendak bebas, itu sebabnya.” Pendeta itu menjawab sekenanya. Dia pernah mendapatkan hal semacam ini di seminari sebelumnya. Hanya, ia tidak menyangka bahwa kelak dia harus diuji. Di tempat seperti ini. Dengan kondisi di mana dia setiap saat bisa mati.

“Hahaha… Enak sekali kau bicara seperti itu, Bapa.”

Pembunuh itu sesaat menatap pistol yang digenggamnya erat, kemudian melanjutkan, “Bukankah Tuhan ini Maha Kuasa, Bapa? Tidak bisakah Dia menciptakan dunia, di mana kejahatan hanya akan menyakiti orang yang melakukannya saja? Tidak perlu ada orang tak bersalah yang menderita. Tidak perlu ada orang tak berdosa yang kehilangan nyawa. Dunia di mana manusia tetap bisa belajar agar tidak melakukan kesalahan, dan bertobat ketika dia melakukan kesalahan. Dunia di mana kehendak bebas tetap ada, namun tidak perlu ada korban sia-sia.”

“Aku tidak mengerti kenapa kau malah mengajakku berfilosofi. Mari kita bicarakan saja, apa sebenarnya yang menyebabkanmu membunuh?” Si Pendeta sadar benar dia tidak bisa menjawab pertanyaan barusan, maka cepat-cepat dia mengalihkan pembicaraan.

“Ah. Aku pun sebenarnya tidak tahu, Bapa. Inilah aku. Inilah yang kulakukan. Seperti ini hidupku. Lagipula, tenang saja, Bapa, aku hanya membunuh mereka yang jahat dan pantas dibunuh.”

“Kau tidak berhak melakukannya!” sergah Pendeta, “Itu hak Tuhan!”

“Lucu sekali, Bapa. Aku pernah memohon pada Tuhan supaya seseorang ini mati dilaknat. Seseorang yang benar-benar jahat. Jahat di mata manusia, dan lebih-lebih di mata Tuhan. Dan dia tetap hidup, sampai kemudian aku turun tangan.”

“Aku tahu kenapa kau melakukannya. Kau ingin bertindak seperti Tuhan. Kau hanya ingin menunjukkan kekuatan. Hentikanlah semua itu!”

“Bapa, tidakkah kau kadang ingin agar seseorang mati?”

“Tidak… Tidak pernah sedikitpun…”

“Jangan bohong kau, Bapa! Atau kutembak kepalamu!” hardik Pembunuh sambil mengangkat pistol sejajar kepala Pendeta.

“Baiklah! Baiklah! Pernah ada seseorang yang sangat kubenci hingga aku ingin dia mati. Tapi… apa yang kulakukan tidak seperti yang kau lakukan. Pikiran bukanlah tindakan kejahatan!”

“Secara tidak langsung kau sudah berharap, Bapa. Dan harapan adalah doa. Kau berdoa supaya Tuhan mengambil sebuah nyawa.”

“Doa yang jahat tidak akan dikabulkan! Lagipula aku pun sudah memaafkan dia. Begitupun juga engkau. Siapapun yang membuatmu menjadi seperti ini, ampunilah dia! Jadilah orang baik dan lanjutkanlah hidupmu!”

Pembunuh menurunkan pistolnya, dan terkekeh.

“Maksudku… lihatlah, Bapa. Bukankah ada kegelapan di setiap hati kita? Kegelapan yang sama yang membuatku membunuh dan membuatmu berharap Tuhan yang membunuh? Apa bedanya…”

“Bedanya adalah aku tidak membunuhnya! Dan meskipun kegelapan ada di setiap hati kita, di situ juga terletak cahaya. Aku yakin di hatimu pun juga ada! Ampunilah mereka yang menyakitimu… Ampunilah…”

Pendeta itu menangis sambil memegang rosari. Tangisan yang sama yang dilakukan Yesus dulu di Taman Getsemani. Antara keraguan dan keyakinan. Antara ketakutan dan belas kasihan. Antara pasrah dan melawan.

“Menurutmu, apakah orang seperti itu layak dibiarkan hidup?”

“Pembalasan adalah hak-Nya… Nanti dia akan dihukum Tuhan di neraka. Sudah, biarkanlah….”

Si Pembunuh menundukkan wajahnya, ada keresahan di desah nafasnya.

“Kalau seperti itu, mengapa ada polisi dan pengadilan, Bapa?” Suaranya terdengar lebih perlahan. Lebih tenang dari sebelumnya. “Kalau semua kejahatan ini ada karena suatu tujuan yang hanya dimengerti oleh Tuhan. Kalau semua ini nantinya akan dibalaskan… Mengapa kita perlu mencegah kejahatan? Sekarang… di dunia ini?”

Si Pendeta tercekat. Baginya, tidak ada serangan iman yang lebih menusuk daripada ini. Bahkan dibandingkan godaan untuk mengambil uang persembahan di laci. Bahkan dibandingkan jemaat yang sering melayangkan senyum penuh arti.

“Sepertinya apapun yang kukatakan tidak akan mempan bagimu. Menurutmu itu semua adalah keadilan. Tapi… Tapi yang kulihat darimu… adalah seseorang yang kecanduan akan kekuatan. Pistol itu memberimu kuasa. Kuasa untuk menentukan hidupmu dan hidup orang lain. Kau tidak akan berhenti, karena tanpanya hidupmu tak berarti!”

“Jangan naïf, Bapa! Aku juga melihat hal yang sama di matamu. Mata yang kosong, bahkan ketika kau berbicara tentang Tuhan. Ada apa denganmu, Bapa? Ada apa dengan imanmu? Apakah kau sudah tidak percaya lagi? Apakah kependetaanmu ini semata-mata menunjukkan bahwa kau juga orang kuat? Bahwa kau tidak hanya sekedar orang tua, yang sebenarnya tanpa atribut keimananmu, salib, Alkitab, dan semua ini, tidak akan ada orang yang peduli?”

Seketika itu hancurlah hati Pendeta. Dia gagal membela dirinya. Dia gagal membela Tuhannya. Tak tahan lagi, dia mulai mengutuki dirinya sendiri. Bertahun-tahun menjadi pendeta, dia menyerah kalah. Kalah pada perkataan seorang pembunuh. Siapakah orang ini gerangan? Apakah dia setan? Atau jangan-jangan dia malaikat kematian?

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Sudah lima menit berlalu dari kata terakhir yang terucapkan. Di dalam bilik si Pembunuh terdengar sebuah isakan.

“Bapa, sebenarnya alasanku kemari adalah untuk membunuhmu.”

“Apa sebenarnya yang kuperbuat padamu? Aku bahkan tidak mengenalmu!” katanya setengah berteriak.

“Bapa, ingatkah engkau pada putra altar yang kau lecehkan tujuh tahun lalu? Itu aku. Apakah perlu kuceritakan kembali, apa saja yang sudah kau lakukan padaku?”

Pembunuh membuka sekat antar bilik, dan menempelkan pistolnya ke dahi Pendeta.

“Aku mohon, ampunilah aku! Aku sudah berubah… Aku sudah bertobat…”

“Tutup mulutmu, Bapa! Dan mulailah berdoa!”

“Tolong jangan bunuh aku! Apa yang dapat kulakukan untuk memperbaiki kesalahanku padamu. Katakan saja!”

“Bukankah aku sedang berbuat baik kepadamu? Membuatmu lebih cepat bertemu Tuhan yang kau puja-puja itu? Kalau kau yakin akan mendapatkan surga, Bapa, seharusnya kau tidak perlu takut pada kematian.”

Air matanya mengalir deras ke pipi. Mulutnya terkunci. Satu-satunya yang ia harapkan sekarang adalah bahwa semuanya ini hanyalah mimpi. Ia mulai melihat seluruh kehidupannya berputar di matanya bagai sebuah film. Tidak pernah menyangka, bahwa film ini nantinya akan berujung tragedi.

“Mulailah mohon ampun, Bapa. Apakah menurutmu Tuhan akan mengampuni apa yang kau perbuat kepadaku?”

“Kurasa.. iya… Ampunilah hamba-Mu ini ya Tuhan!”

“Bagus! Karena aku tidak akan pernah mengampunimu!”

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Sekali berbunyi, setelah itu sepi. Tubuh rentanya jatuh ke bumi, dengan darah yang mengucur deras dari lubang di dahi. Di tangannya, masih tergenggam sebuah rosari.

Di luar, hujan sudah berhenti.

* Theodicy, berasal dari kata dalam bahasa Yunani, theos, yang berarti Tuhan, dan dike, yang berarti keadilan, atau pembenaran.