Jared Diamond, den ich für einen der brillantesten lebenden Historiker halte, und dessen intelligente Studie „Arm und Reich. Über das Schicksal menschlicher Gesellschaften“ („Guns, Germs and Steel“) ich dringend zur Lektüre empfehle, hat in der vorletzten Ausgabe der New York Review of Books (17/2002) eine Abhandlung von David Sloane Wilson rezensiert*, die dieser unter dem Titel „Darwin’s Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society“ publizierte.

Seine These formuliert Wilson folgendermaßen:

Something as elaborate – as time-. energy. and thought-consuming – as religion would not exist if it didn’t have secular utility. Religions exist primarily for people to achieve together what they cannot achieve alone. The mechanisms that enable religious groups to function as adaptive units include the very beliefs and practices that make religion appear enigmatic to so many people who stand outside of them.

Diamond ist voll des Lobes über das Buch (und gute Bücher über Religion gibt es nicht so viele):

Discusscions of these subjects tend to be partisan, oversimplified, and riddled with misstatements. A great virtue of Wilson’s book is the scrupulous fairness with which he treats controversial matters. He is careful to define concepts, to asses both their range of applicability and their limitations, and to avoid posturing, misrepresentations, exaggerated claims, and cheap rhetoric devices. Thus, Wilson’s book is more than just an attempt to understand religion. Even to readers with no interest in either religion or science [wo gibt es denn so etwas? :-); CK] his book can serve as a model of how to discuss controversial subjects honestly.

* Der Artikel ist mittlerweile Teil des kostenpflichtigen Archivs der NYRB.