Religion Explained
Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought by Pascal Boyer is a great book about a very interesting topic.
It is a book about why most humans are religious. Pascal Boyer takes an evolutionary and cognitive psychology approach to the problem. The discussion in this book about how our mind works was fascinating enough by itself. As a parent, I found the description of how children think and how their thoughts develop as they grow to be the most interesting parts of the book.
Overall, Pascal Boyer explains the development of religious thought in humans in an easily accessible way that a casual reader can understand as well. Therefore, I would recommend this book to everyone who is interested in religion and/or cognitive sciences. I must thank Razib for suggesting this book to me and making my thinking about religion so much more coherent.
Here is an article Why is Religion Natural? by Boyer that gives a flavor of the book.
Other interesting works on this topic are:
- In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion by Scott Atran (here is an article by him)
- Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel Dennett. Here’s an article about him and his work.
- Darwin’s Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society by David Sloan Wilson
I must note here that religion being natural does not necessarily mean that religion is true.
Related Reading:
ڈفر Duffer
It is natural because god has created it.
There are two things about it.
1. Human beings are not all-powerful. Weak moments come in their lives during which they feel helpless and in an effort to boost themselves up they need the Omni-powerful, God.
2. Human beings may be saying everything against God but in heart of the heart they do believe there is some big power. This is because even people who profess Darvin’s theory do not know where from the presumed first cell came.
We are programmed to believe, but we cannot see whether this is the root of the tree or a middling branch. And, therein lies the wonder. People of faith see in this finding God’s shadow, and those without faith see merely shadows.
god is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
Christopher Hitchens is a good polemicist and it shows in his book. This is not a book presenting research or theological discussion, but it does present forceful arguments against religion and the religious.