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I like the “byproduct” hypothesis, if for no other reason than it’s almost self-evidently true. Surely every human behavior is in some sense a byproduct of genes that evolved for other reasons. And if religion, like music-making, jokes, and pornography, is an outgrowth of genes that have evolved for other reasons, then we need not make up adaptive stories favoring a “religion module” in the brain. That imposes some restraint against the injudicious production of untestable stories.

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There was a paper recently in PNAS on "The cognitive and neural foundations of religious belief". A couple of bloggers, Epiphenom and I Am David, come to opposite conclusions. Epiphenom says that the study shows that religion is not a side-effect of the evolution of cognitive processes, while IAD says that is exactly what it shows. (Evolving Thoughts)

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Musing on the often acrimonious debate between atheists and believers, Simon Blackburn takes as his inspiration David Hume, who approached the issue not with hatred but with humour (Times Higher Education)

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recent publications and then some work on neural correlates of religious belief. (Deric Bownds' MindBlog)

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The research shows that, to interpret a god's intentions and feelings, we rely mainly on the same recently evolved brain regions that divine the feelings and intentions of other people. (New Scientist)

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Boston Review — Alex Byrne:

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RichardDawkins.net

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We often hear that modern science requires us to reject traditional Christian views of the human person. The argument goes something like this: If we can see the physical process by which ideas are associated or feelings felt or decisions made, then surely we must admit that human beings are nothing more than physical entities. The concept of a soul, so we are told, is irrelevant. Well, it turns out that science now points us in a different direction.

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empirical evidence for religious prosociality | Deric Bownds' MindBlog

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Steven Weinberg. The New York Review of Books, Volume 55, Number 14 · September 25, 2008

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"Do we have a “God gene,” or a “God module”? I'm referring toclaims that a number of you may have noticed. Just last week, a cover story of Timemagazine was called "The God Gene:Does our deity compel us to seek a higher power?" Believe it or not, somescientists say yes. And a number of years earlier, there were claims that thehuman brain is equipped with a “God module,” a subsystem of the brain shaped byevolution to cause us to have a religious belief. "Brain's God module mayaffect religious intensity," according to the headline of the LosAngeles Times. In this evening's talk, Iwant to evaluate those claims." (Pinker)

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in list: Evolution

"...human beings have an innate need to conceptualise their world in terms of the transcendental, and to live out the distinction between the sacred and the profane. This need is rooted in self-consciousness and in the experiences that remind us of our shared and momentous destiny as members of Kant’s ‘Kingdom of Ends’. Those experiences are the root of human as opposed to merely animal society, and we need to affirm them, self-knowingly to possess them, if we are to be at ease with our kind." (Axess, a magazine for the liberal arts and social sciences)

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"In this paper I present a number of classroom tools and techniques that I have found effective for teaching James’s lecture, and the broader debate that has ensued over “the ethics of belief.” My classroom approach is somewhat reconstructive of James’s argument, which is well-noted for its ambiguities and lack of effective organization. But I have found that the Tables and syllogism that I provide below aid student comprehension, and allow teachers to utilize limited classroom time in a more focussed and productive manner."

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"Recent advances in neuroscience and brain-imaging technology have offered researchers a look into the physiology of religious experiences. In observing Buddhist monks as they meditate, Franciscan nuns as they pray and Pentecostals as they speak in tongues, Dr. Andrew Newberg, a radiologist at the University of Pennsylvania, has found that measurable brain activity matches up with the religious experiences described by worshippers. The social, political and religious implications of these and other findings are just beginning to permeate the broader culture, according to New York Times columnist David Brooks, who has been tracking new developments in the field. " (PEW Forum)

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"God may work in mysterious ways, but a simple computer program may explain how religion evolved

By distilling religious belief into a genetic predisposition to pass along unverifiable information, the program predicts that religion will flourish. However, religion only takes hold if non-believers help believers out – perhaps because they are impressed by their devotion." ( 27 May 2008 - New Scientist)

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in list: Evolution

"Due to be auctioned this week in London after being in a private collection for more than 50 years, the document leaves no doubt that the theoretical physicist was no supporter of religious beliefs, which he regarded as "childish superstitions"." (The Guardian)

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"Humans alone practice religion because they're the only creatures to have evolved imagination." (28 April 2008 - New Scientist)

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If the contrast is fundamentalism v. science then of course religion threatens science. But if the contrast is fundamentalism v modernist theologies v Catholic doctrine v ... for the whole disjunct of actually held views in a given society, then the "threat" of "religion" is lessened to what I think it is, a minority of believers, through a spectrum of attitudes to science ending in total acceptance and contribution to science. The error lies in lumping all religious views into one category, defined rather crudely, and then claiming that all members of that category are either (i) like the definition, or (ii) rare. (Evolving Thoughts)

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Prof Daniel Dennett and Lord Winston present their arguments ahead of tonight's public debate. (EducationGuardian.co.uk, 04.22.08)

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