Religious believers intuitively conceptualize deities as intentional agents with mental states who anticipate and respond to human beliefs, desires and concerns. It follows that mentalizing deficits, associated with the autistic spectrum and also commonly found in men more than in women, may undermine this intuitive support and reduce belief in a personal God. Autistic adolescents expressed les...

The authors review experimental evidence that religious conviction can be a defensive source of compensatory control when personal or external sources of control are low. They show evidence that (a) belief in religious deities and secular institutions can serve as external forms of control that can compensate for manipulations that lower personal control and (b) religious conviction can also se...

Puranas contain the essence of Vedas. are vast genre Indian literature about a wide range topics, particularly legends and other traditional lore. They narratives history universe from creation to destruction genealogies kings, heroes, sages deities. Some puranas discourses on cosmology, geography Hindu philosophy. usually written in form dialogue. The were meant, not for scholars, but ordinary...