Renowned biologist E. O. Wilson has said we should eliminate religions for the sake of human progress, as they are "dragging us down".
In an interview with New Scientist, Wilson was speaking about his latest book The Meaning of Human Existence, in which he questions religion, how humanity looks for common cause, our behaviour and our impact on the environment.
He said his next book, in which he plans to deal with where we are going as a species, looks at how we have been destroying Earth in a way that people have not fully realised "like the death of a thousand cuts". Wilson said we ignore cues from science about the damage we are doing because of our "tribal structure".
"All the ideologies and religions have their own answers for the big questions, but these are usually bound as a dogma to some kind of tribe. Religions in particular feature supernatural elements that other tribes – other faiths – cannot accept ... And every tribe, no matter how generous, benign, loving and charitable, nonetheless looks down on all other tribes. What's dragging us down is religious faith."
He said that he is not an atheist or agnostic, instead explains "I'm a scientist".
I would suggest that tribalism played a very important, and possibly necessary role in mankind's rise from prey to predator, and ultimately to becoming the dominant species on the planet.
However I would also argue that what served as a benefit during more primitive times has now become an impediment to our progress toward becoming more enlightened beings.
Today it is not so much our gender, or ethnicity, that builds walls between us but rather our religious faith. Or lack thereof.
Just the other day my daughter and I were musing on the fact that thousands of years ago Italy, Spain, and France, which are geographically only a handful of miles apart, could develop different languages and cultures, while today we are closer to becoming a global community then ever before.
In fact these very words will be read by visitors from as far away as Hong Kong, Belgium, and Germany, and they will both be able to understand what I say, as well as respond to what is written without ever having to leave their house, much less their continent.
In other words thanks to technology we now know more, and understand more, about each other than at any other time in the history of mankind.
The final hurdle to overcome, the wall that still stands in our way, is religion.
Eradicating it, and the antiquated ideas it promotes, should be priority one for all of us.
Well at least I cannot be accused of not doing my part.
