> > I wish some extreme theists of my acuantance would realize this :-) But, how can
> > genetic survival for (usually celebate) priests make any sense? Of course, they
> > have more than sufficient capacity to spread memes - this could be an instance of
> > gene/meme competition.
> >
> In most societies the priest class had a lot of political power.
> Those who disagreed with the priests were sacrificed or tortured to death.
> That is a pretty potent form of selection.
Right - and it could even be genetic - the priest is breaking even if he can save 2
siblings from 'selection', or 16 cousins, or torture/sacrifice enough unrelated people
to free up that # of niches. I wonder whether this actually happened. However, now,
due to civil rights, the 1st amendment and such, these powers are uncommon in American
society. This may be a memetic-evolutionary reason for the reduction in new Catholic
priests.
-Nathan Russell