Science & the Big Questions

Why Are Some Religions More Popular Than Others?

Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism are followed by roughly 75 percent of the global population. What made these religions, with billions of believers, so successful while others fizzled?

The Crux, Discover

Topics: Belief Cooperation Cultural Evolution Evolution of Religion Morality

Synthesizing Empirical Findings and Theory in the Scientific Study of Religion

The SEFT Project is an initiative to survey the work that’s been done in the scientific study of religion thus far — to step back and take a bird’s-eye view of what the field has accomplished, where it’s come from, and where it might go next.

Science on Religion

Topics: Evolution of Religion Ritual Scientific Study of Religion

Creating God

An in-depth look at a provocative idea about the origin and purpose of the world’s religions.

Hidden Brain, NPR

Topics: Azim Shariff Belief Cooperation Cultural Evolution Evolution of Religion Faith Religiosity Ritual Trust

Did Human Sacrifice Help People Form Complex Societies?

The debate over how well ritual killings maintained social order.

The Atlantic

Topics: Cultural Evolution Evolution of Religion Power Ritual Scientific Study of Religion Social Inequality Violence

Supernatural Punishment and the Evolution of Cooperation

The key question the supernatural punishment hypothesis tries to answer is this: how could reliable human cooperation have evolved, since there’s always an incentive for individuals to cheat — that is, to benefit from others’ cooperation without cooperating in return?

Science on Religion

Topics: Cooperation Evolution of Religion Scientific Study of Religion

Worshipping Waterfalls: The Evolution of Belief

Can we ever know why our ancient human ancestors developed spiritual beliefs? Can evolutionary science uncover the roots of religion?

To the Best of Our Knowledge

Topics: Andrew Newberg Animal Studies Ara Norenzayan Barbara King Evolution of Religion Frans de Waal Jeff Schloss