I have no doubt those shadows are still part of the human psyche, and can perhaps explain some seemingly irrational behavior today such as attendance at megachurches and Trump rallies.
However, modern man also has education, science, and the capacity for rational critical thinking which has produced human beings like Carl Sagan.
Can the rise of megachurches and Trumpism -- which make their leaders and financiers very wealthy -- be explained entirely by the irrational shadows in our evolutionaty past?
Perhaps for many of the fools who give their money to charlatans and their votes to a sociopathic felon, but the malefactors of great wealth and power more likely have utilized their thinking skills to manipulate and fleece the masses of fools still driven by primitive perceptions.
Many on the "Christian" right in the middle class with education and lucrative careers should not be so easily fooled, so my question is to what extent is their behavior dictated by the ancient irrational shadows still lurking in our brains.
I'm not talking about religious faith in general. Many of mankind's greatest thinkers and humanitarians believed in God and practiced their faith.
But today's Christian right in America, in practice, reject the core teachings of Jesus their ostensible Lord. Oh, they may attend church and give to charity, but they are key enablers of the cruelty and destruction being perpetrated by our own government.
In my view, they are not prisoners of the irrational shadows. Rather, they utilize their capacity to rationalize and compartmentalize to justify their greed and bigotry under a cloak of religiosity.
They think they have purchased their ticket to heaven, so they have license to indulge their privilege while ignoring the responsibilities of truly moral citizens and human beings.
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