Darwin's God

New York Times by Robin Marantz Henig | Mar. 4, 2007 (Special Report)

Call it God; call it superstition; call it, as Atran does, "belief in hope beyond reason" -- whatever you call it, there seems an inherent human drive to believe in something transcendent, unfathomable and otherworldly, something beyond the reach or understanding of science. "Why do we cross our fingers during turbulence, even the most atheistic among us?" asked Atran when we spoke at his Upper West Side pied-à-terre in January. Atran, who is 55, is an ... Full Story »

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4.7
 by Arjun Rajagopalan - Mar. 5, 2007

This article is compulsory reading for those of us who have been watching the disputes that have erupted in the wake of Dawkins' recent book. Robin Henig has written an outstanding review of how and why religion, more importantly religiousness, evolved. Are we hardwired by evolution to be religious and believe in God? If so, what is the survival advantage that belief in God confers on us. The article does an exceptional job of going through the arguments, in clear and lucid prose. He concludes by quoting Scott Atran, the anthropologist who is most knowledgable on this issue, by saying that our need for religion and God may be the "tragedy of human cognition". I would rate this article as the best reponse to the "God Illusion" debates.

(13 answers)

Arjun's Rating

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4.7

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