Increasing mutational load within the population
http://midus.wisc.edu/findings/pdfs/1749.pdfIndustrialisation leads to relaxed selection and thus the accumulation of fitness-damaging genetic mutations. We argue that
religion is a selected trait that would be highly sensitive to mutational load. We further argue that a specific form of religiousness
was selected for in complex societies up until industrialisation based around the collective worship of moral gods. With the
relaxation of selection, we predict the degeneration of this form of religion and diverse deviations from it. These deviations,
however, would correlate with the same indicators because they would all be underpinned by mutational load. We test this
hypothesis using two very different deviations: atheism and paranormal belief. We examine associations between these devia-
tions and four indicators of mutational load: (1) poor general health, (2) autism, (3) fluctuating asymmetry, and (4) left-handed-
ness. A systematic literature review combined with primary research on handedness demonstrates that atheism and/or paranormal
belief is associated with all of these indicators of high mutational load.
