Why We Need Religion: a Darwinian Defense of Religion

Why We Need Religion offers an evolutionary and affective account of religion, arguing that its enduring value lies less in explaining the natural world or providing moral doctrine than in its capacity to regulate human emotional life. Drawing on neuroscience, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, and the comparative study of religion, the book examines how religious practices, narratives, rituals, and imaginative structures help individuals and communities manage grief, fear, rage, guilt, forgiveness, resilience, joy, play, and other powerful emotions. Situating religion within the emerging sciences of embodied and affective cognition, the book develops a Darwinian defense of religious emotions and the cultural systems that organize and manage them.