How Indians invented the universal religion
One of my favorite podcasts is Two for Tea, which tends toward “centrist-edgelordism”. The latest guest is, Armin Navabi, who I have nicknamed the Ayatollah. Armin is literally one of the most logical people I have ever known of, at least in the domain of those who are not visibly already extremely at one end …
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Religion and science, a foggy battlefield
One of the similar responses from very different camps to my National Review piece on evolution was that I was wrong to assert evolutionary biology doesn’t have atheistic implications. This perspective came from both some religious evolution skeptics and from atheists who agree with Jerry Coyne and Richard Dawkins. My own view on this isn’t […]
Rumbles in religion and cultural evolution
A few months ago I posted Society Creates God, God Does Not Create Society, which was a write-up of a paper in Nature, Complex societies precede moralizing gods throughout world history. The study was of interest to me because it seemed to test the hypothesis and argument presented in Big Gods: How Religion Transformed Cooperation […]
Indian Muslims are more latitudinarian than Pakistani Muslims
There is a lot of talk on this weblog. Probably because this is South Asian focus, and we tend to be a loquacious people on the whole (some more than others). But I decided to look in the World Values Survey in regards to the question of whether believers believed their religion was the only …
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Society creates god, god does not create society
Several years ago I read Big Gods: How Religion Transformed Cooperation and Conflict. This was after a long hiatus from reading about the topic of religion from a broad evolutionary perspective. In the 2000s, I read Darwin’s Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society, In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion, and […]
The religious and genetic structure of Bengal & Partition
I was emailing with a friend of mine about population genetic history and Southeast Asia. I mentioned offhand that there is an east to west cline of Tibeto-Burman ancestry in Bengal. He expressed surprise, assuming Partition had scrambled everything. As most readers of this weblog know, Partition was less traumatic for Bengal than it was for …
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The variation in religion and our evolutionary history
As my post on intelligence was quite successful, I thought perhaps I would offer up something similar on religion, since that’s a topic where I have been giving opinions based on fragments of my own views for some time. The point in this post is …
A pagan psychology does not a pagan society make
Ross Douthat has a column in The New York Times, The Return of Paganism: Maybe there actually is a genuinely post-Christian future for America. He concludes: That embarrassment may not last forever; perhaps a prophet of a new harmonized paganism is waiting in the wings. Until then, those of us who still believe in a […]
Criticizing Islam is turned into “hate speech” on Facebook
Obviously, this isn’t happening to everyone who criticizes Islam. But someone like Abdullah Sameer is getting popular, and he’s a pretty attractive face for apostasy from Islam. He was until recently a rather conservative Muslim himself. He’s the person you need to shut up if you want to retain Muslims. As he notes manipulating Facebook […]
Muslims are not a People of the Book
Recently I became a patron of the Secular Jihadists podcast. Ten years ago this wouldn’t be a big deal, but as a “grown-up” with three kids I’m much more careful to where I expend my discretionary income. So take that as a stronger endorsement than usual. I think Secular Jihadists is offering a nonsubstitutable good […]
Hinduism was not invented by the British (or Muslims)
I’m reading a book titled The Idea of the Muslim World: A Global Intellectual History. It’s works within the postcolonial framework. Unlike a lot of postcolonial scholarship it isn’t bluster and rhetoric riddled with basic historical errors. The author presents a lot of interesting facts. But, as I’ve said elsewhere I disagree with the thesis … Continue reading “Hinduism was not invented by the British (or Muslims)”
Render unto Caesar worldly goods
At Tanner Greer’s recommendation, I purchased a copy of Imperial China 900-1800. Now that I’ve received it I realize that I read a few chapters of Imperial China 900-1800in 2008, before abandoning the project due to sloth. Older and wiser. As I’m reading this book, I’ve been giving thought how I would respond to this […]
On the semiotics of secularism and nakedness of village atheism in the culture war
Listening to the lovely bells of Winchester, one of our great mediaeval cathedrals. So much nicer than the aggressive-sounding “Allahu Akhbar.” Or is that just my cultural upbringing? pic.twitter.com/TpCkq9EGpw — Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) July 16, 2018 One of the great celebrity “village atheists” of our day, Richard Dawkins, has “stepped in it” again by eliciting […]
A “carvaka” perspective historicity of myth and religion
A comment thread below discussed the issues relating to the historicity of Jesus, Muhammad, and Hindu figures such as Ram and Krishna. The assertion is that while Jesus and Muhammad are historical figures, Ram and Krishna are mythological. To some extent, this is a religiously fraught topic. People from Abrahamic backgrounds are wont to dismiss … Continue reading “A “carvaka” perspective historicity of myth and religion”
Bangladeshi freethinker shot dead
Freethinking writer and politician shot dead in Bangladesh: Shahzahan Bachchu was known locally and within the secular Bangladeshi movement as an outspoken, sometimes fiery activist for secularism. He printed poetry and books related to humanism and freethought via his publishing house Bishaka Prakashani (Star Publishers). He was also a political activist, serving as former general … Continue reading “Bangladeshi freethinker shot dead”
On the rectification of names and religion
A major influence on my thinking about human social phenomenon is Scott Atran’s In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion. Atran, along with other scholars such as Dan Sperber and younger researchers such as Harvey Whitehouse, work within a “naturalistic” paradigm, as opposed to the more interpretative framework currently ascendant within American anthropology. … Continue reading “On the rectification of names and religion”
Our existence is an offense to moderate Muslims!
I’m really not incredibly invested in these internecine BP conversations, but this kind of comment honestly convinces me of deep incommensurability: Perhaps if you don’t go around publicly announcing that you are an ex-Muslim, you will face less problems. There are lots of “Muslims” who barely practice the religion. But for form’s sake, we say … Continue reading “Our existence is an offense to moderate Muslims!”
White presenting, women presenting, person defends Dharmic terminology from white people
Not sure if I would have believed this tweet existed if it didn’t. But it does. But wait, it gets better! More white presenting people defending the cultural sensitivities of people of the Dharmic persuasion. Now, I do think it is true that Dharmic religious perspectives tend to be made light of on occasion. For … Continue reading “White presenting, women presenting, person defends Dharmic terminology from white people”
What religion is
It’s been about 10 years since I addressed this topic. Largely because I have no new thoughts. But probably after 10 years, it’s useful to revisit/clarify on this topic to clarify confusions, since people have a lot of opinions on this topic. People mean different things when they mean “religion,” and the different meanings are […]
Accepting that most people are damned, and liberal puralism
Here is how I learned it. Once upon a time in the West, the Church aimed to save all of society by bringing everyone under the umbrella of the Truth. The shattering of Western Christendom with the Reformation caused a problem. If the Catholics were right, then the Protestants were damned, and if the Protestants […]