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Posted on: July 4, 2010 - 7:38pm

kierantitheridge

Posts: 39

Joined: 2010-06-25

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Anthropology

Can anyone direct me to a book or author that gives a good account of why religion came into existence?

I understand principles such as tribalism, ethology & bits of anthropology can explain certain human behaviours but I wondered if there was a comprehensive account of how religion came to be? It would also be nice if it were backed up by evidence.

Any help would be greatly received.

Posted on: July 4, 2010 - 7:50pm #1

Cpt_pineapple

Posts: 5492

Joined: 2007-04-12

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http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Tr

http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Trust-Evolutionary-Landscape-Evolution/dp/0195178033/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278287237&sr=8-1

You can also see this paper

http://www.psych.ubc.ca/~ara/Manuscripts/AtranNorenzayanBBS.pdf

Oh and also this one

http://artsci.wustl.edu/~pboyer/RelCogWebSite/CognitiveTemplates.pdf

Posted on: July 4, 2010 - 7:59pm #2

kierantitheridge

Posts: 39

Joined: 2010-06-25

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Smashing thanks. I will get

Smashing thanks. I will get stuck into them straight away.

Keep 'em coming!

Posted on: July 5, 2010 - 12:23am #3

Wonderist

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Joined: 2006-03-19

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Breaking the Spell: Religion

Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel C. Dennett. Highly recommended. Also, The Meme Machine by Susan Blackmore, for background material.

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Posted on: July 7, 2010 - 8:25am #4

Atheistextremist

Posts: 5134

Joined: 2009-09-17

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Hey Captain

Do you still have the link to the evolution of religion paper (it was online) you posted a while back? That was a really good grounding, I thought. And it was free.

"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck

Posted on: July 7, 2010 - 10:22am #5

Answers in Gene...

Posts: 4214

Joined: 2008-11-11

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Let me add one here: How We

Let me add one here:

How We Believe: The Search for God in an Age of Science by Michael Shermer.

NoMoreCrazyPeople wrote:

Never ever did I say enything about free, I said "free."

Posted on: July 7, 2010 - 2:15pm #6

Cpt_pineapple

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Joined: 2007-04-12

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Atheistextremist wrote: Do

Atheistextremist wrote:

Do you still have the link to the evolution of religion paper (it was online) you posted a while back? That was a really good grounding, I thought. And it was free.

I think it's the one I linked to above

http://www.psych.ubc.ca/~ara/Manuscripts/AtranNorenzayanBBS.pdf

Posted on: July 8, 2010 - 2:07am #7

Atheistextremist

Posts: 5134

Joined: 2009-09-17

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Yeah, that was it.

Cpt_pineapple wrote:

Atheistextremist wrote:

Do you still have the link to the evolution of religion paper (it was online) you posted a while back? That was a really good grounding, I thought. And it was free.

I think it's the one I linked to above

http://www.psych.ubc.ca/~ara/Manuscripts/AtranNorenzayanBBS.pdf

That's well worth a read.

"Experiments are the only means of knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." Max Planck