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Are humans naturally predisposed to religion and supernatural beliefs? If so, does this naturalness provide a moral foundation for religious freedom? This volume offers a cross-disciplinary approach to these questions, engaging in a range of contemporary debates at the intersection of religion, cognitive science, sociology, anthropology, political science, epistemology, and moral philosophy. The contributors to this original and important volume present individual, sometimes opposing points of view on the naturalness of religion thesis and its implications for religious freedom. Topics include the epistemological foundations of religion, the relationship between religion and health, and a discussion of the philosophical foundations of religious freedom as a natural, universal right, drawing implications for the normative role of religion in public life. By challenging dominant intellectual paradigms, such as the secularization thesis and the Enlightenment view of religion, the volume opens the door to a powerful and provocative reconceptualization of religious freedom.
Features chapters by authors presenting opposing viewpoints on the 'naturalness' of religion, the rationality of materialism, the relationship between religion and health, and the implications of scientific views of religion for religious freedom rights
Examines the centrality of religion to human experience through multiple disciplinary perspectives, including cognitive and evolutionary science, anthropology, sociology, political theory, and epistemology
Discusses the political implications of the centrality and naturalness of religion to human experience, with particular reference both to early Enlightenment critics of religion and to modern 'anti-essentialist' critics of the conceptual frameworks of religion and religious freedom
Introduction Jack Friedman and Timothy Samuel Shah
1. Are human beings naturally religious? Christian Smith11. Human rights, public reason, and American democracy: a response to Nicholas Wolterstorff Stephen Macedo.
Description
Are humans naturally predisposed to religion and supernatural beliefs? If so, does this naturalness provide a moral foundation for religious freedom? This volume offers a cross-disciplinary approach to these questions, engaging in a range of contemporary debates at the intersection of religion, cognitive science, sociology, anthropology, political science, epistemology, and moral philosophy. The contributors to this original and important volume present individual, sometimes opposing points of view on the naturalness of religion thesis and its implications for religious freedom. Topics include the epistemological foundations of religion, the relationship between religion and health, and a discussion of the philosophical foundations of religious freedom as a natural, universal right, drawing implications for the normative role of religion in public life. By challenging dominant intellectual paradigms, such as the secularization thesis and the Enlightenment view of religion, the volume opens the door to a powerful and provocative reconceptualization of religious freedom.
Features chapters by authors presenting opposing viewpoints on the 'naturalness' of religion, the rationality of materialism, the relationship between religion and health, and the implications of scientific views of religion for religious freedom rights
Examines the centrality of religion to human experience through multiple disciplinary perspectives, including cognitive and evolutionary science, anthropology, sociology, political theory, and epistemology
Discusses the political implications of the centrality and naturalness of religion to human experience, with particular reference both to early Enlightenment critics of religion and to modern 'anti-essentialist' critics of the conceptual frameworks of religion and religious freedom