In his 1871 book, "The Descent of Man," Charles Darwin noted that anthropologists conclude that "a belief in all-pervading spiritual agencies seems to be universal; and apparently follows from a considerable advance in the reasoning powers of man, and from a still greater advance in his faculties of imagination, curiosity and wonder." Why would religion and belief in God evolve? Darwin suggested that it might accentuate group cohesiveness in the competition against other groups: "There can be no doubt that a tribe including many members who, from possessing in a high degree the spirit of patriotism, fidelity, obedience, courage and sympathy, were always ready to aid one another, and to sacrifice themselves for the common good, would be victorious over most other tribes; and this would be natural selection [of the group]."
A simpler explanation might be that there is something to such belief, that it represents in some way and to some extent a correct apprehension of the nature of reality.
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