cognitive science of religion

Is Pure Consciousness Possible?

Some practitioners of meditative disciplines or people who have had mystical experiences claim to attain a state of “pure consciousness” (PC). PC is supposed to be a state where one is conscious, but is not conscious of anything. That is, it is completely objectless, or if it has any object at all, the object is Is Pure Consciousness Possible?

What are Atheists For?

What are atheists for? Hypotheses on the functions of non-belief in the evolution of religion Dominic Johnson* Politics and International Relations, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK An explosion of recent research suggests that religious beliefs and behaviors are universal, arise from deep-seated cognitive mechanisms, and were favored by natural selection over human evolutionary history. However, if a propensity towards What are Atheists For?

Religious Belief Systems of Persons with High Functioning Autism

Abstract: The cognitive science of religion is a new field which explains religious belief as emerging from normal cognitive processes such as inferring others’ mental states, agency detection and imposing patterns on noise. This paper investigates the proposal that individual differences in belief will reflect cognitive processing styles, with high functioning autism being an extreme Religious Belief Systems of Persons with High Functioning Autism