Theories about religious symbols and concepts have primarily been interested in the mnemonic and communicative dimensions of oral signification, without developing robust theories for alternative technologies, such as writing. But an epidemiological model of memory and transmission would seem to be more applicable to written documents because they are physical artifacts and thus more conducive to the sensibilities of materialists. Written language, too, 'evolves' over time, for epigraphers can trace clear lineages in various ancient written scripts over time. The alphabet evolved by a well known process from symbols of common public objects, like oxen, fish, and houses. Similarly, a text can evolve over time. For example, the process of storing, saving, and passing down texts in the form of scrolls and their fragments is now regarded by many Biblicists as a major mechanism by which the Bible came together around the 5th century B.C.E. But how did this work? My paper will briefly try to address these questions by approaching the subject of the transmission of texts and textual fragments. I argue that cognitive theories of religion help explain this process. I adapt theories of Whitehouse and Sperber to apply to the transmission of written symbols and their vehicles, texts. In this model, symbols, texts and fragments compete with one another in terms of relevance (and other factors) in a fight for survival. Texts, which are more like genes than memes, degrade and fossilize over time, but if they are relevant or powerful enough, they are copied for future generations. Though the replications are often faithful, their fidelity varies over time, and often errors or mutations occur and become replicated in turn.