From Religious Practices to Religious Narratives as Sense-Making Models Supporting Solidarity in Society

Models of Religious Authority

Signaling, Solidarity, and the Sacred: The Evolution of Religious Behavior

Many challenges confront evolutionary scholars of religion. The origins and adaptive value of religion and the conditions that selected for its evolution are difficult to discern. Patterns of religious behavior, like other areas of human social behavior, have undergone significant change over our evolutionary history. Evans-Pritchard1 argued that dramatic historical changes in religious behavio...

Religious Concepts as Necessary Components of the Adaptive Religious System

The majority view of cognitive scientists of religion holds that religious concepts are merely byproducts of evolved minds. However, religious concepts exhibit patterned socioecological variation, suggesting that they may be responsive to local selective pressures. Concepts worthy of religious devotion are intriguing, emotion-triggering, and framed in such a way that makes them relevant to one’...

Assessing elemental mercury vapor exposure from cultural and religious practices.

Use of elemental mercury in certain cultural and religious practices can cause high exposures to mercury vapor. Uses include sprinkling mercury on the floor of a home or car, burning it in a candle, and mixing it with perfume. Some uses can produce indoor air mercury concentrations one or two orders of magnitude above occupational exposure limits. Exposures resulting from other uses, such as in...

Religious practices in South India to cure diseases.

There is belief in South Indian villages that epidemics are due to evil spirits surrounding the villages. The propitiating of Gods and Goddesses to get rid of diseases in these villages are discussed. The Christian and Muslin traditions to cure the diseases by practising religion are also discussed.