Dr. Bloom — Is there a God-shaped hole?

Paul Bloom's article asks whether a "God-shaped hole" exists in human nature. I find myself skeptical of the transcendence hypothesis for two main reasons.

First, religious leadership often contradicts the doctrines they publicly uphold, exploiting followers for secular advantages rather than demonstrating increased devotion. If religion truly fulfilled a deep spiritual need, we would expect those most immersed in it to show the most consistent behavior.

Second, if humans were truly designed to seek transcendence, by now they should have reached a conclusion on what kind of god exists out there and what kind of religious system they all have to follow—which is definitely not the case. The proliferation of competing religious systems argues against a universal, innate spiritual yearning.

My view is that religion functions more as a tool to unify society and establish a common belief system that could effectively structure it, rather than as the fulfillment of something hardwired into human nature.