Preconditions for the evolution of religious belief and religion
The subject of the research is the evolutionary basis of the origin and forming of religious belief and religion as a cultural phenomenon in the context of the two interrelated points of view - “adaptive” and “secondary” ones. In the first case religion is analysed as an important adaptive mechanism of prosocial integration in group selection and a psychotherapeutic tool, and in the second case - as a secondary product of individual psychological attributes inherent in our species and having an initially different evolution meaning (anthropomorphism, dualism, teleology, infantile credulousness). Our biological nature contains potential preconditions for forming religious beliefs that are universal for the whole mankind, but at the same time they are contextual, changeable and can find other numerous forms of expression, except the religious one.