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December 2016

December 21, 2016

Social media is toxic. Religious studies tells us why.

Why does social media bring out the worst in us? Religious studies tells us that...

November 2016

November 29, 2016

Overworked? Try a little ritual

Human ritual is an evolutionary product of the behavioral instinct for play. Without that instinct,...

September 2016

September 06, 2016

White American ethno-nationalism is on the rise. Why?

According to historian Peter Turchin, the white American ethnicity arose out of protracted military struggles...

August 2016

August 04, 2016

Religion builds self-control and excludes outsiders – simultaneously

A new model suggests that religion may benefit mental health by building adherents' self-control. The...

June 2016

June 01, 2016

Science explains why America is going off the rails

Any country's success depends on its social capital, or "asabiya." The United States is losing...

April 2016

April 30, 2016

In which I am interviewed for a Vlog

Two gripping video interviews by the Religion for Breakfast vlog about computer simulation and religion....

April 18, 2016

Why the world needs liberals

Cultural liberalism is valuable. More than that: it’s something to feel patriotic towards. I’m lucky...

October 2015

October 13, 2015

Hilbert problems in the study of religion

Journal editors at Religion, Brain & Behavior are calling for experts and researchers across religious...

September 2015

September 21, 2015

Simulating Religion

How do we get a handle on this vast, complicated realm of religion? Well, maybe...

August 2015

August 11, 2015

Reason™ is not going to save the world

Should we be all rational, all the time? Not if we want the planet to...

June 2015

June 12, 2015

The culture wars come for public higher education

The evangelical Christian governor of Wisconsin is about to enact a set of laws that...

June 03, 2015

Animals evolve. People evolve. Can groups evolve?

It seems as if, evolutionarily speaking, groups are real entities. Mathematical modeling and lab studies...

May 2015

May 20, 2015

Religion and evolution, part deux

Rollicking debates about evolutionary theory are crucial for understanding how religion evolved – because many...

April 2015

April 16, 2015

Is religion evolutionarily adaptive?

Darwinian evolution is amoral. Evolutionary adaptations are often extremely nasty. Genetically maladaptive behavior can be...

April 01, 2015

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

Belief in hell is good for society – it frightens people into shaping up, toeing...

March 2015

March 18, 2015

Comments aren’t for atheist evangelism

Interreligious tensions in Europe are growing and American religious resistance to evolution slouches on intransigently....

February 2015

February 18, 2015

Is willpower really a finite resource?

Publication bias is rampant in psychology. Has it led us astray with one of the...

January 2015

January 07, 2015

How separate are science and religion, anyway?

Eric Metaxas’s "scientific" argument for God makes religion too literal, placing it squarely in science’s...

December 2014

December 24, 2014

The age of extreme opinions

Agreeable, conscientious people are more likely to obey orders to harm other people. What does...

November 2014

November 14, 2014

Want to understand religion? You’ve gotta have a body.

Religious experience is something that comes from what bodies do. What goes on in our...

October 2014

October 15, 2014

Religion surrounds us

There is real good and real bad to be found in religious culture. It crafts...

October 02, 2014

Sex, the cuddle chemical, and religion

Kate Stockly-Myerdirk Last week, Connor wrote about sex differences here. I happen to research one...

September 2014

September 15, 2014

Want a meaningful life? Stay away from rich countries

Countries with higher gross domestic products have higher suicide rates and less self-reported meaning in...

August 2014

August 11, 2014

Yes, fundamentalism is religion. And it starts wars.

The “no true Scotsman” fallacy is often used to claim that no real, believing Muslim...

July 2014

July 28, 2014

Informal Study Finds Bloggers Can’t Tell Fact from Fiction

A study shared widely in the TwitFaceBlogosphere says that religious children can't tell fact from...

July 21, 2014

Nerd culture, the new aristocracy

Nerd culture is a form of aristocracy. Try mentioning that you study religion in a...

July 14, 2014

The Wave of the Future: Experimental Religious Studies

Ted Slingerland's work at UBC-Vancouver shows that the scientific study of religion has undergone a...

July 07, 2014

Is religion good or bad for the world?

Across studies, there’s a regular but modest positive correlation between religiosity and prosocial behavior, and...

June 2014

June 19, 2014

Theories of religion: The early years

This week we’re looking at three early anthropologists who believed that cultures evolve from “primitive”...

June 10, 2014

Why do religions tell impossible tales? A testable hypothesis

Impossible imagery in religious narratives and folktales might, in part, serve as a solution to...