From the beginning of human history, communities have depended on the social structure provided by religion to preserve the group. Religion’s responsibility was to provide the interpretations that would foster the survival of the group. When it failed, the group lost its identity and either disappeared or adopted a new religion and took on a new identity.

Perhaps, the best-known examples of this principle are the Protestant Reformation when geographical groups of Roman Catholics became what were called Protestants because they were protesting the elitism and corruption of the Roman Catholic Church. The time when groups of Jews and gentiles became Christians and later when Roman “pagans” became Christians are other instances of this. Another example is provided by ancient Egypt when, over time, the state religion stagnated producing loss of cohesion, vigor and purpose, and eventual collapse of the culture.

Science of Ethics proposes that the core of humanity’s supernatural religious beliefs have built on a genetic “tribal” propensity that causes belief in magic and the power of wishing. This propensity plays out in a myriad of ways depending on the cultural specifics of the group. My best guess is that this propensity is based on what is called hope in human beings. It exists as the reward part of the flight or fight response with fear as the punishment component. Of course this physiological phenomena has been shaped by evolution for its value in increasing the likelihood of survival of the species.

A breakthrough in human progress began when the ancient Greeks developed philosophy as a rational, alternative way to explain the elements of human life and the world in general. Philosophy tapped into humanity’s “wisdom” potential made possible by symbolic language. In the realm of philosophy unlike in religion ideas could be questioned and new answers adopted. This happened in Greece because citizens there had an unusual degree of leisure time, education based on rhetoric, and independence from social control.

Over the course of time philosophy itself separated into two parts: 1) traditional speculative philosophy based on individual efforts to answer questions of pressing interest, and 2) natural philosophy based on a more rigorous study of the world from a naturalistic perspective independent of the gods and other supernatural agencies.

In the fifteenth century natural philosophy became science and the differences between naturalistic science and supernatural religions became increasingly more obvious. At the same time the understanding of how things worked moved more and more out of the realm of religion into the realm of science. Astrology became astronomy. Alchemy became chemistry. Geology, biology, and the other early sciences were formalized. In addition practical applications of science became increasingly important as this knowledge began to be used to support commerce.

There were many factors that helped produce these changes. Underlying this process was an empirical attitude that permeated Western society. There was a widespread interest in studying the things of the world to understand how they actually worked. The findings and tools of the craftsperson were valued and utilized rather than being shrugged off as vulgar and irrelevant as had been done by the Greeks. An additional motivation came as a response to the fanatical, repressive, inadequate explanations Christianity then provided. Some changes were favored because societies existed as small, separated cultures such that persons oppressed in one place could find shelter elsewhere. These separate, but communicating cultures also promoted cross-pollination of ideas that increased the speed of the search to find how the world worked. This knowledge about the things of the world slowly accumulated over time and was recognized by some thoughtful people as conflicting with the answers provided by religion.

However, in spite of the widespread recognition of the critical value of the scientific method in solving problems and answering questions, one domain remained firmly within the grip of supernatural religion. This was the realm of meaning. Philosophers said, and scientists agreed, that science was restricted to clarifying how things happen. Meaning was taken to explain why they happened in an ultimate sense. Why did human beings exist? To serve God. Why did a tree exist? To serve humanity. Etc. However, meaning, through no coincidence, also gives rise to an individual’s motivations and the goals of their life. It was accepted that only religion could assign meaning to things. Only religion could define the meaning of human life. Science was considered impotent to do so.

But with the arrival of Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution by natural selection the beginning of the final stage of movement from supernatural answers to naturalistic answers had begun. Progress since then has been very rapid. Over the past several decades all fields of knowledge, but especially evolutionary psychology has been developing the evidence that will make possible not only the recognition of what needs to be done, but how to do it. The primary tool for replacing the supernatural model of religion with a naturalistic one must be the understanding of human ethics from a naturalistic perspective.

When our understanding of the currently available evidence of science reaches a critical level the triumph of naturalistic science over supernatural religion will be complete. When this step is taken the possibility will then exist for each person to understand the meaning of their life in a way that would help them achieve their full positive potential. It is the goal of Science of Ethics to provide step-by-step answers to help individuals increase their odds of achieving the foregoing. So in that sense the Science of Ethics provides the framework within which the propensity of humans to believe in magic and the power of wishing will be replaced by a naturalistic, congruent understanding of life. This is the unrecognized goal that humanity has been struggling toward since the evolution of symbolic language.