In two studies undergraduates' understanding of extraordinary capabilities was investigated using religious and secular contexts. Six stories assessed participants’ endorsement of anthropomorphic language to describe attention, physical power, perception, and presence of three agents: God, a human, and Qwore, an agent with the same powers as God. Participants attributed human-like limitations t...

The Duchess of Malfi, a tragedy written by John Webster, makes frequent reference to contemporary Jacobean concerns about health and disease for dramatic effect. Most notably Webster chooses to highlight lycanthropy through the evolution of the condition in the character of Duke Ferdinand. This paper examines Webster's knowledge of contemporary medical, religious and political texts and explore...

The present paper is designed to explore the belief system prevailing in a rural community of the Punjab, Pakistan. In particular, prevalence of beliefs regarding superstitions, dreams and shrines are studied along with other supernatural aspects such as black magic, taweez and ghosts. Data are taken from a probability sample survey conducted in the village. The survey covered various aspects o...

Many dubious disciplines have been removed from academic institutions, but theology is not one of them, as it still taught in respectable universities. This article argues that does deserve special treatment. Theology has long pretended to be a science, can never be, because ultimately, grounded on faith and authority, two tenets run counter the scientific method. Natural appeals evidence reaso...

We present a cross-cultural analysis showing that the presence of an active or moral High God in societies varies generally along a continuum from lesser to greater technological complexity and subsistence productivity. Foragers are least likely to have High Gods. Horticulturalists and agriculturalists are more likely. Pastoralists are most likely, though they are less easily positioned along t...

Obviously, removing the supernatural from the Bible touches the foundation facts of the Christian faith: the incarnation and. resurrection of Christ. And it is interesting to observe that even scholars who engage in the demythologizing ‘process take issue with one another over their treatment of these, crucial matters. Yet the dilemma seems to be that if one does not retain the incarnation and ...

Schloss and Murray (S&M) have provided an insightful and important contribution to our understanding of the role of supernatural punishment in the evolution of religious systems. Future researchers will need to pay particular attention to their refinements of the cooperation enhancement (CE) and punishment avoidance (PA) approaches. While S&M acknowledge ‘‘considerable empirical support that . ...

There are various ways in which science can be classified as theistic or religion-based. One is when the components of scientific theories are accepted by the followers of religions and rejected by the opponents of religious beliefs. Although Quine (1908-2000) does not believe in any religion, the possibility of one concept of religious science can be inferred from his explanation of the founda...