In the Name of God.. The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Ethics and Violence

John Teehan's "In the Name of God: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Ethics and Violence" offers a naturalistic account of religious morality's dual capacity to inspire both ethical behavior and violence. Drawing on evolutionary psychology and moral philosophy, Teehan argues that religious moral systems emerge from evolved psychological mechanisms designed for group cooperation and competition, rather than from divine revelation or pure reason.

The work's central thesis posits that religious ethics and religious violence share common evolutionary origins in humanity's tribal past. Teehan contends that natural selection favored psychological traits promoting in-group cooperation and out-group competition, creating moral intuitions that religions subsequently codified and intensified. Religious systems amplify these evolved tendencies by adding supernatural sanctions and sacred narratives that strengthen group cohesion while potentially demonizing outsiders.

Teehan engages critically with traditional philosophical and theological approaches to religious ethics that treat morality as either divinely commanded or rationally derived. Against divine command theory, he argues that religious moral codes reflect pre-existing evolved intuitions rather than transcendent truths. Against pure rationalist accounts, he maintains that religious ethics cannot be understood apart from their biological and cultural evolutionary contexts. The analysis particularly challenges apologetic responses to religious violence that dismiss it as aberrational or contrary to "true" religion.

The work's methodology combines evolutionary psychology's empirical findings with philosophical analysis of religious texts and traditions. Teehan examines how major religious traditions—particularly Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—incorporate both cooperative and competitive moral strategies. He demonstrates how scriptural commands to love neighbors coexist with divine sanctions for violence against enemies, arguing these apparent contradictions make evolutionary sense as strategies for group survival.

This contribution significantly advances debates about religion's moral status by offering a unified explanatory framework for religion's ethical ambiguity. Rather than defending or attacking religion's moral credentials, Teehan provides tools for understanding why religions generate both moral exemplars and religious violence. The work challenges both religious believers who claim unique moral authority and secular critics who view religion as purely destructive. By grounding religious morality in human nature, Teehan reframes classical questions about theodicy and divine goodness as questions about evolved psychology and cultural evolution, offering a naturalistic resolution to longstanding puzzles about religion's moral complexity.