Skip to content
Personal Growth

The Evolution of Religion

“As the 21st century unfolds, perhaps religions will undergo a radical shift: to become more hybrid in nature and flexible in narrative.” A professor of genetics on the malleability of myths.
Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

“As the 21st century unfolds, perhaps religions will undergo a radical shift: to become more hybrid in nature and flexible in narrative.” Susan L. Smalley, professor and behavior geneticist at UCLA, writes on the malleability of myths: “Green plants are tender and filled with sap. 
At their death they are withered and dry. Therefore the stiff and unbending is the way of death. 
The gentle and yielding is the way of life. In our country—a largely Christian nation—it means examining the Bible with flexible open-minds, allowing fact to move to fiction but not throwing out the essence of a teaching.”

Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

Related
The hospital where Rainn Wilson’s wife and son nearly died became his own personal holy site. There, he discovered that the sacred can exist in places we least expect it. During his talk at A Night of Awe and Wonder, he explained how the awe we feel in moments of courage and love is moral beauty — and following it might be the start of our spiritual revolution.
13 min
with

Up Next