Faith

From the evolutionary prospective, what benefits does faith provide?

Faith allows for quick teaching/learning. There is no justification required. Here it is, know this. Not great for understanding the reasons, but the primal lesson is quick to be had. When life is brutish, hard and short, those lessons may be needed before adulthood, and the parents cannot count on being around when his children need him. It was law in Greek times that the father was obligated to teach his sons. Many wrote books to there sons, life was uncertain. Faith, that what father knew was right was just required. That is the first and big value of faith. Just take what I am saying as truth, aka faith. Test if for yourself when you get time came later, but that is also an essential step.

I, an old retired person, am still learning things which are probably obvious to most people, but not to me. I grew up poor and in a isolated area, essentially physically provided for... well at a survival level. Faith that there was a better life to be had away from there was all that kept me going. I did not need to go that far, 80 miles, and there was opportunity. I grew up knowing I would be leaving. That is just how it was. Faith, not knowledge was all we had. 

Now, when we get time, we each need to test what we were told, and sort out the bullshit, no longer true, and the like.

Altruism, as prescribed in the religious texts, exists only in tight communities, such as the Mennonite, Hutterite, Amish, and other religious groups. It is a within group characteristic. We likely have a  bit built in biologically, but much more is learned, religion, cultural, societal. Within the modern mass societies, very little exists, but within groups, it does exist. Faith in mass society does not work, there are too many that want to separate us and our money. That is the ultimate problem.

The real problem is there are too many people. The earth can absorb the Co2 of a modren society of about 3.5 billion, we are twice that now, and pain is about to be felt in a big way. Check out the data. and when you do look at the data, not just the argument, you will see. Faith is not required except in the science, mathematics, and the data.