Reply #1: This is the inconvenient truth for Richard Dawkins.

[napoleon_in_rags]

He brings up the very idea in Chapter 11 of The Selfish Gene. However that's where it gets strange. He explains how genetic evolution comes up with things like eyes, which clearly help the individual organisms (though the focus in on the genes themselves, not the individuals thus altruism etc) but as soon as religion is viewed as a meme, its bad. To me this is like condemning the gene for having eyes... Because that gene helps organisms survive, it gets passed on. It wouldn't be here if it didn't help organisms. That's simply how natural selection works: The genes that get selected help organisms survive to reproduce. Also, the memes that get selected help civilizations survive.

So like it or not, religions help civilizations survive.