[Paleopsych] Benedict XVI Package

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The functionality of religion and ethnic conflict, both of which I 
addressed in my introductory paragraphs. Some of the articles dealt with 
these.

On 2005-04-20, Steve Hovland opined [message unchanged below]:

> What's the science connection?
>
> Steve Hovland
> www.stevehovland.net
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
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> Sent:	Wednesday, April 20, 2005 8:01 AM
> To:	paleopsych at paleopsych.org; Human Biodiversity
> Subject:	[Paleopsych] Benedict XVI Package
>
> Here's a whole bunch of articles, mostly from the New York Times and wire
> services picked up by the NYT. The view I'd most like to get is that of
> David Sloan Wilson, the champion of group selection in biology in _Unto
> Others_ (co-authored with Elliott Sober) and, more recently, of
> functionalism in religion in _Darwin's Cathedral_. He once called himself
> "an atheist, but a nice atheist" and holds that religions (at least those
> that have survived) have on the whole done good. (I'm still dubious.) He
> has dealt with the apparently odd fact that stricter religions attract
> more adherents, and Benedict may indeed make Catholicism more strict.
>
> We shall see. Watch for increased competition for strictness from
> Protestants and Mormons. The ethnic angle should we watched carefully.
> Though Roman Catholicism no longer has a White majority, this is the first
> time that the possibility of a non-White pope has been broached. It is
> taboo for Europeans to rejoice in winning the ethnic competition; instead
> look for an increase in the numbers of European Roman Catholics, or at
> least a slowing in their erosion.
>
> I'll provide more coverage tomorrow. I a single commentator says anything
> you could not have predicted, let me know at once!
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