Why We Believe in God(s): A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith in Atheists and Skeptics

May 04, 2011 David S. T. rated it liked it

Shelves: science, religion

Warning: I got this book from the goodreads first-reads giveaway, but I don't think that influenced my rating.

I think the question of why do so many humans have an innate drawing towards religion is a good one and its one which this book attempts to answer. I can't tell how many times I've heard we have a God shaped hole in us, this desire for the supernatural. Basically this book views religion as misfires from our evolution, a “fast-food” mentality. Fast-food analogy is used because fatty / s Warning: I got this book from the goodreads first-reads giveaway, but I don't think that influenced my rating.

I think the question of why do so many humans have an innate drawing towards religion is a good one and its one which this book attempts to answer. I can't tell how many times I've heard we have a God shaped hole in us, this desire for the supernatural. Basically this book views religion as misfires from our evolution, a “fast-food” mentality. Fast-food analogy is used because fatty / sweet foods were once valuable to us when food was more scarce but now days it just causes obesity and health problems, yet we still crave it. I'm a theist so I personally view this a little different, I think the question all boils down to your world view.

Another thing with this book, its definitely “a concise guide”. Expect a book covering this topic to be about the size of Harris's A Letter to a Christian Nation. I understand the want to keep the book accessible and short, but it also means that the topics and information is pretty brief. Of course since I'm assuming that was the idea, its not really its fault and it does provide an overview of the evolutionary cognitive neuroscience of religion.

One warning about the book (which I should have assumed before I started), this book is mostly just another new atheist book written due to the Sept 11, terrorist attacks. I should have guessed as much with the introduction from Dawkins, the fact that its listed as religion instead of science or the dedication to his grandson “in hopes that he will grow up in a world freer of religion's destructiveness”. The author hopes one day that the “evolutionary cognitive neuroscience of religion” will be taught in public school biology classes and he welcomes the legal actions and new scopes trials. I do wish the author would put have had less of a 4 order intensionality of atheism in this book where he wants the reader to believe all religion is bad and atheism is the only way out (I do agree that sometimes fundamentalism can be bad). ...more

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May 14, 2015 Travis rated it really liked it

Shelves: history

Nice little primer on the science behind why we keep inventing religion. How it is a social and psychological construct, as well as an evolutionary one.
Covers the basics and leaves you with plenty interesting ideas and questions.
Lots of small bits of info on evolution, Darwin, science and the human to hook your attention. He definitely got me interested and wanted to find more books on the subject.

Like how he is able to break down some pretty complicated ideas into easy straightforward explanati ...more

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