Religion and evolution, part deux

2015-05-04T11:16:20-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Anthropology, not demagoguery, is the way to understand ISIS

Last updated on: May 4, 2015 at 11:16 am By Connor Wood

Blaming ISIS on generic religious irrationality makes us completely blind to the social processes that are actually happening. People really do have more needs than superficial prosperity. When these deeper needs aren't met, things get ugly. Read more

Ideology and religion

Is religion evolutionarily adaptive?

Last updated on: June 2, 2015 at 5:01 pm By Connor Wood

Darwinian evolution is amoral. Evolutionary adaptations are often extremely nasty. Genetically maladaptive behavior can be subjectively wonderful. We should never get Darwinian success mixed up with objective goodness. Read more

Costly investment theory

Evolution of religion series

Evolutionary psychology

2015-04-01T10:50:55-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Is belief in heaven good for you? No. Yes. Maybe.

Last updated on: April 1, 2015 at 10:50 am By Connor Wood

Belief in hell is good for society – it frightens people into shaping up, toeing the line, and playing by the rules. But this fear of God isn’t so great for people at the individual level. A loving, forgiving God is psychologically better for you than believe in a punitive and angry one. Read more

Religion and health

supernatural punishment

2015-03-18T10:53:09-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Comments aren’t for atheist evangelism

Last updated on: March 18, 2015 at 10:53 am By Connor Wood

Interreligious tensions in Europe are growing and American religious resistance to evolution slouches on intransigently. We’ll need to actually understand religion if we want to deal with these issues, and that’s why I’m moderating this comment board more strictly from now on. Read more

2015-03-16T14:12:56-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Why the religion-science dialogue needs secular religious studies

Last updated on: March 16, 2015 at 2:12 pm By Connor Wood

Secular religious studies could add vibrant insight to a dialogue whose main purpose is to achieve rapprochement between religion and science. Read more

Science and religion

bio-cultural study of religion

AAAS

climate change

cognitive science of religion

Jennifer Wiseman

Perceptions

religion-and-science

religion-science dialogue

2015-03-09T11:44:26-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Michael Shermer thinks he’s more moral than you

Last updated on: March 9, 2015 at 11:44 am By Connor Wood

Skeptic thinker Michael Shermer believes that Western society is becoming more moral because we're very abstract thinkers. Concrete thinking leads to tribalism and prejudice. But doesn’t Shermer realize that somebody needs to attend to “concrete reality?” Otherwise, who's growing the food or fixing cars? Read more

Atheism

Is willpower really a finite resource?

Last updated on: February 19, 2015 at 9:28 am By Connor Wood

Publication bias is rampant in psychology. Has it led us astray with one of the most important psychological theories of all time? Read more

Practice of science

Religion and health

2015-02-02T13:57:18-05:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

America’s public ritual gone terribly wrong

Last updated on: February 2, 2015 at 1:57 pm By Connor Wood

Sports exemplify the central role of play in human culture, the crucial importance of arbitrary rules and ritual. But the hyper-commercialized ritual of the Super Bowl is becoming increasingly disturbing. Read more

2015-10-19T09:16:55-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Does Eben Alexander “prove heaven?” Sort of.

Last updated on: October 19, 2015 at 9:16 am By Connor Wood

Instead of going back and forth between true believers in NDEs and skeptics, let’s take NDEs seriously as human phenomena. This can help us understand why stories like Eben Alexander’s grip us so profoundly. Read more