[extropy-chat] Atheism in Decline (Why Is Religion Natural? by Pascal Boyer)

[Daniel Fogelholm]

On Mar 4, 2005, at 12:56 PM, Samantha Atkins wrote:

> Perhaps religion or not religion are both cop-outs.   What would be 
> helpful is an understanding of, an integration of what is true and 
> important from religion/spirituality and science and all aspects of 
> what we are and wish to be.  Clearly this cannot be shoehorned into 
> any pre-existing religion or philosophy, especially any system that 
> believes that the letter of its dogma is more holy than the actual 
> attempt to understand and deeply integrate that the dogma is little 
> more than the fossil record of.   It requires a new weaving to be 
> honest and truly capable of making human "salvation" more likely.
>
> I sometimes see some of the pieces of such an integration.  Sometimes 
> I believe an actual religious movement to produce and disseminate this 
> integration not as some vision from on high but as the living evolving 
> highest understanding and goal/value structure of humankind is utterly 
> essential to our survival.  Other times I am frightened of falling 
> into old errors and making new dogma to saddle the world with.
>
> Religion that is alive as above is not at all contrary to rational 
> thinking.  If a candidate religious system is truly contrary to 
> rational thinking then it is simply a deeply flawed attempt at what 
> could be helpful.  As long as we believe that religion must be at odds 
> with science we haven't a prayer of producing a viable religious 
> movement.

http://www.csicop.org/si/2004-03/religion.html

Why Is Religion Natural?

Is religious belief a mere leap into irrationality as many skeptics 
assume? Psychology suggests that there may be more to belief than the 
suspension of reason.

Pascal Boyer

Religious beliefs and practices are found in all human groups and go 
back to the very beginnings of human culture. What makes religion so 
'natural'? A common temptation is to search for the origin of religion 
in general human urges, for instance in people's wish to escape 
misfortune or mortality or their desire to understand the universe. 
However, these accounts are often based on incorrect views about 
religion (see table 1) and the psychological urges are often merely 
postulated. Recent findings in psychology, anthropology, and 
neuroscience offer a more empirical approach, focused on the mental 
machinery activated in acquiring and representing religious concepts. 
...