In his paper purporting to show that a beneficial, baby-making “religion gene” will sweep through a population and eventually make everyone religious, Robert Rowthorn ignores this inconvenient fact: nearly everyone in the world is already religious. Here is how it breaks down:
Because fifty percent of the “Non-Religious” group is theistic but not “religious,” we can [...]
Tags:alleles·atheists·belief gene·believers·brain·brain gene·demography·dual inheritance·faith gene·fertility·fixation·human universal·materialists·neurology·religion gene·Robert Rowthorn·selective sweep·supernaturalism·unbelievers·world religiosity
Having just finished Robert Lowie’s classic Indians of the Plains (1954), I thought it appropriate to comment briefly on chapter six, which is titled “Supernaturalism.”
Lowie begins by noting that Indians did not recognize the physical/metaphysical dichotomy that characterizes Western thought, but they “can and did react vehemently to perceptions that are wholly out of the [...]
Tags:Ake Hultkrantz·Apsaroke·Crow·ethnohistory·Indians·Indians of the Plains·Lakota·manitou·maxpe·Plains Indians·Raymond DeMallie·Robert Lowie·Sioux·supernaturalism·wakan·Winnebago
In a recent post on Supernaturalism and the Paranormal, I hypothesized a connection between supernatural-religious beliefs on the one hand and paranormal beliefs on the other. My thinking was that if someone is inclined to believe in anything that is non-measurable, non-empirical, and non-material (i.e., “supernatural”), then s/he may be more inclined to be religious [...]
Tags:Craig Martin·Diverse Supernatural Portfolios·ecumenical·empiricism·ESP·exclusivism·ghosts·Joseph Baker·Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion·materialism·paranormal·psi·religiosity·Scott Draper·supernaturalism·telekinesis·tolerance
There has been much chatter over the past few weeks about what appears to be a general lack of religious knowledge among Americans. Although I have not seen any surveys or studies from outside the United States, I think it safe to say this ignorance is not limited to America — it most likely is [...]
Tags:brain-mind·Breaking the Spell·curriculum·Daniel Dennett·Diane Winston·hunter-gatherers·metaphysics·neolithic·Paleolithic·Purpose Driven Life·religious ignorance·religious knowledge·religious naturalism·Rick Warren·shamanisms·social construction·supernaturalism·truth·truth correspondence
As most social and critical theorists know, Karl Marx asserted that the “criticism of religion is the premise of all criticism” (Critique of Hegel, 1843). This is a startling foundational statement coming from Marx, who also thought that the criticism of religion was complete — a key accomplishment which enabled him to proceed with his [...]
Tags:Christopher Craig Brittain·critical theory·criticism·Critique of Hegel·Essence of Christianity·evolutionary history·Frankfurt School·Friedrich Nietzsche·God is Dead·God is Not Dead·historical materialism·human constructions·Karl Marx·Lectures on the Essence of Religion·Ludwig Feuerbach·Marxism·Max Horkheimer·Max Horkheimer on Religion·metaphysical truths·mystification·Sigmund Freud·social theory·supernaturalism
