Awe and Adaptation

Materialist attempts to debunk religion have shifted in their nature and focus over the past couple of centuries. The current line of thinking is well represented by Princeton neuroscientist and novelist Michael Graziano who writes in the Huffington Post that religion is just an artifact springing from humanity's evolutionary gifts for sociability.

We attribute minds and personalities not only to other persons, which had an adaptive advantage for us, but also by extension to...