Many of the world’s religions, particularly the earlier ones, tend to have certain curious traditions which at one point made life possible. Failure to adhere to these traditions typically invited harm of a material rather than spiritual nature, supposedly brought upon by a deity in response to the transgression, but well within the purview of science now. For example, meat must be soaked and salted to be considered Kosher. The concept of a pathogen was unknown then, but it was probably observed that people who prepared their meat in that manner tended not to get as many foodborne illnesses, as the salt acted as an antiseptic. Thus the precaution became ingrained and the illness became a matter of divine retribution.

In this manner, religion has a beneficial effect and would be a supported trait through our evolution.