A new research study from the Bay Area has been misreported throughout the Internet, falsely suggesting that the religious are less compassionate than the nonreligious. Here, researcher Connor Wood shows why this matters, and why bad reporting about religion needs to stop. Read more
Does religion make us moral or not? Researcher Paul Bloom (an atheist, mind you) thinks the answer is both – within groups, religion primes people to be altruistic and generous, but outside group boundaries its effects are more insidious. Read more
Why do we think there's an afterlife? A California research team thinks that not only is mind-body dualism hardwired into our brains, but it also affects how we think about ethical decisions. Read more
Why does religion seem to do so much good for its adherents, but divide societies and nations? An innovative research model claims that part of religion's evolutionary role is to keep human groups separate from one another, so that infectious diseases don't spread. Read more
Jonathan Morgan Each month new studies emerge about how religious belief affects well-being: belief in a loving, forgiving God is linked to slower progression of HIV; pro-religious people have better heart health. Each new study explores different facets of spirituality and religiosity, and different types of health. But what if this correlation is just a side effect of another, deeper connection? Corinna Loeckenhoff, a psychologist from Cornell, argues that personality may be that deeper factor, and her research backs her up.... Read more
New studies show that analytical thinking is negatively correlated with religiosity. Connor Wood shows why this isn't the big deal many people are making it out to be. Read more
Why does religion help people assuage their fear of death? The answer may be more complex than you suppose – new research shows that thinking of the world as having a teleology, or inherent purpose, counters the fear of death on its own. Read more
Do scientists actually think that religion is all bunk? Sociologist Elaine Eklund has done the research, and she claims that the answer is "no." Read more
Jonathan Morgan For half a decade, the cognitive science of religion has sought the evolutionary origins of religious belief. This burgeoning field has some deep and convincing explanations, but it may also stigmatize atheists as aberrations of evolution. Now, psychologists are countering this stigma by tracking the personality traits that naturally facilitate atheism. Their work gives us a personality profile that neutralizes atheism as one of many expected worldviews in any healthy, diverse community. (more…) Read more
The stereotypes are clear: spirituality and materialism don't mix. But are they true? New research suggests that the answer is yes: the more spiritual you are, the less interested you're likely to be in material goods. Read more
Science On Religion
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