Kevin Bondelli's List: Psychology

• One claimed that believers gazing upon images of the Virgin Maryfelt less pain than a control group. Another that religious convictions about the supernatural make us more honest and trusting. Both utilise common assumptions about belief, in the first case that it serves mostly to provide consolation, in the second that it is about avoiding the wrath of moralising gods.
• The serious point is that religions are massively diverse.
• Another thing that is striking about the researchers' understanding of religion is how belief in God is interpreted as a kind of cost-benefit analysis.
• He is particularly concerned about the notion that altruism stems from egoistic motives, goodwill that arises from the mutual scratching of backs.
• De Waal believes that the chimps and bonobos he has observed understand, demonstrate and even value genuine altruism and empathy.
• It showed that the greater a sense of obligation people have, the less likely they are to want to end it all. And that religion provides the best ties of all.
• However, Durkheim was enough of a theologian to realise that it is not beliefs about divinities per se that count. Rather it is the connection with other people that religious practice nurtures which is so valuable.
• Religion is not the cause, it is the expression of the meaning and significance people find in their lives. It is that meaning and significance which – let us say for the sake of argument – leads them to, say, feel less pain or trust others more.
• Or to put it another way, just because we have evolved into meaning-seeking creatures doesn't mean there isn't meaning out there to be found.

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