Selection

Abstract

Religions are exposed to selection powers. Religious selection is a natural sorting process, just like natural selection in biology: certain varieties can increase more successfully than others in a given environment, which means that certain advantageous deviations can ultimately assert themselves until they determine the face of the religion. The cause for a religion’s changing appearance is the fact that through selection, a population’s set of beliefs, rules, and behaviours is formed anew in each generation. Therefore, this sorting process is a creative process, creating a multitude of new conceptions and convictions in each generation which in turn must face the sorting process. Certain varieties can propagate themselves more successfully in a given milieu (and perhaps even in a changing milieu!).