Topics Religion

Question I'm aware of many arguments attempting to prove or disprove or make probable or improbable the existance of a God. However, I don't know of any attempts by recent academic philosophers to explain why religion is such a ubiquitous phenomenon historically and at present among humans. It seems remarkable to me me that no early human civilization developed without some kind of supernatural deity/agency. There's some overlap here with psychology/sociology/anthropology, but Im more interested in philosophical analysis that is informed by the social sciences. Im uncertain of the probably of the existance of a God based on the traditional arguments, and I find the moral implications of the Judeo/Christian God troubling (how could hell be just?), but why do so many humans seem to need religion? As a nonreligious person I feel that even my own life is lacking something without belief in something sublime/transcendent. I'd appreciate book recommendations also.

Accepted:
September 22, 2012

Comments

Thank you for this inquiry! I believe an excellent book to check out is The Believing Primate published by Oxford University Press and edited by Jeff Schloss and Michael Murray. There is a great deal of material there on the projects of accounting for the emergence and continuation of religion and the philosophical presuppositions of these projects and their philosophical implications. You also might enjoy The Blackwell Companion to the Study of Religion which considers the study of religion from different scientific (including the social sciences) points of view and it includes a chapter on the philosophical investigation of religion (a second edition is in the works), edited by Robert Segal. Three is also a fascinating book just published called The Routledge Companion to Theism which is a massive, impressive work that includes reflections on the sciences and cross-cultural philosophical work on theism and its alternatives. You may (like a number of others) find the moral implications of the Judeo-Chritian God troubling, but on that front I think God has gotten some undeserved bad press of late! For a more balanced perspective, I highly recommend Keith Ward's book Is Religion Dangerous? and Paul Copan's Is God a Moral Monster?