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rug

(82,333 posts)
Sat Jan 12, 2013, 12:20 PM Jan 2013

Smart atheist heads $3-million grant into religion and morality



UBC Asian Studies professor "loves" his daughter intensely, but doesn't really believe in "love" or in overarching "meaning." It's all grist for the metaphysical mill in his team's $3 million research project into religion and morality.

January 11, 2013. 6:01 pm
Douglas Todd

Why is a self-described “complete atheist” in charge of a $3-million research project into religion?

To find out how Edward Slingerland, a professor of Asian Studies at the University of B.C., came to be the primary investigator for the world’s largest study on the evolution of religion and morality, we need to go back a couple of decades.

Slingerland was an undergraduate majoring in molecular biology at Princeton University. But the hard sciences just weren’t clicking for the curious young man.

So he hopped on a motorcycle and headed to California with two books in his saddlebag: Jack Kerouac’s On the Road and Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2013/01/11/wise-atheist-wins-3-million-to-research-religion-and-morality/

http://www.hecc.ubc.ca/cerc/project-summary/
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Smart atheist heads $3-million grant into religion and morality (Original Post) rug Jan 2013 OP
He sounds fascinating and like the right man for the job. cbayer Jan 2013 #1
Sounds like an interesting project. Jim__ Jan 2013 #2
Indeed. rug Jan 2013 #3
I would counter that the starting points for religons edhopper Jan 2013 #4
That's a starting point for politics. rug Jan 2013 #7
We would have to establish if we are talking about edhopper Jan 2013 #8
I agree that the methodology will be interesting. Jim__ Jan 2013 #6
Should have taken two better books. mr blur Jan 2013 #5
Edward Slingerland talking about the project. Jim__ Jan 2013 #9

cbayer

(146,218 posts)
1. He sounds fascinating and like the right man for the job.
Sat Jan 12, 2013, 01:54 PM
Jan 2013

He recognizes the power of religion while holding no personal beliefs. He is also turned off by the anti-theists.

I look forward to his work.

Jim__

(14,045 posts)
2. Sounds like an interesting project.
Sat Jan 12, 2013, 02:21 PM
Jan 2013
Throughout history, Slingerland believes, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, animism and Chinese folk religion have helped cement moral behaviour – by developing “morally concerned” gods and concepts such as “God’s will” and “karma.”

Religious leaders have encouraged humans to engage in “costly displays,” like self-sacrifice, donating to charity and even martyrdom. On the surface, Slingerland says, such behaviours don’t seem to support individual humans’ struggle for survival.

But religion has often led to social cohesion. One question the project will ask is can other forces create such interdependence?


I look forward to seeing what answer they come up with to that question.
 

rug

(82,333 posts)
3. Indeed.
Sat Jan 12, 2013, 08:41 PM
Jan 2013

The starting point for religions is altruism, the "other" being a god, followed quickly by other humans and, in some, to all living things. It is a very different starting point from "individual humans’ struggle for survival."

One doesn't have to be religious to be altruistic to others but, from a purely human perspective, to what extent, and why?

The process in moving from these two starting points is different. The methodology entailed in answering these questions will be as intriguing as the concusions.

edhopper

(33,164 posts)
4. I would counter that the starting points for religons
Sun Jan 13, 2013, 09:58 AM
Jan 2013

are understanding and control. People trying to understand the world around them and people trying to control others.

 

rug

(82,333 posts)
7. That's a starting point for politics.
Sun Jan 13, 2013, 02:54 PM
Jan 2013

Eventually religion gets there too, but I submt it's secondary. When humanity outgrew rocks and sticks as means of control, it looked around and found religion to harness in service to politics. But it was already there, having arrived from another point.

edhopper

(33,164 posts)
8. We would have to establish if we are talking about
Tue Jan 15, 2013, 06:02 PM
Jan 2013

religion as a set of beliefs or an organized group based on those beliefs..

Jim__

(14,045 posts)
6. I agree that the methodology will be interesting.
Sun Jan 13, 2013, 10:46 AM
Jan 2013

My understanding is the the social cohesion of religion began long before Christianity or Islam or any organized religion; it actually began with communal dance. I don't think government, per se, can replace that; but other forms of communal meeting might.

Jim__

(14,045 posts)
9. Edward Slingerland talking about the project.
Wed Jan 16, 2013, 07:04 AM
Jan 2013

From Science + Religion ( http://www.scienceandreligiontoday.com/2013/01/14/what-does-the-cultural-evolution-of-religion-research-consortium-hope-to-accomplish/ ):

...

Despite its centrality to human affairs, religion remains, from an academic perspective, one of the least studied and most poorly understood aspects of human behavior. Over the period of our grant, CERC aims to answer the questions of how religious cultural forms have evolved over time, how religion is linked to morality, and why religion plays such a ubiquitous role in human existence. Our theoretical starting point will be that of gene-culture co-evolution. We believe that, although religious cognition originally arose as a byproduct of other human cognitive capacities, apparently maladaptive religious beliefs and behaviors have been maintained and strengthened because certain groups succeeded in integrating them into packages of cultural elements (beliefs, rituals, devotions) that deepened group solidarity by incentivizing trust and cooperation with supernatural punishments and rewards. We believe that the gradual assembly of this cultural package was not only a key to the origin of large-scale societies, but also provides a convincing answer to the historical question of why religions with moralistic gods—rather rare amongst the panoply of human religious variety—have spread at the expense of other types of religion. Cultural groups with religions that best promote within-group cooperation and harmony tend to outcompete other groups. Our hypothesized link between religion, group identity, and morality also potentially explains the persistence of religious belief in the face of countervailing evolutionary pressures, and lends credence to arguments postulating a link between moral evaluations and some sort of metaphysical realism.

CERC’s research activities will revolve around one central question: Are religious beliefs and behaviors linked to within-group solidarity and cooperation? This central question will be broken down into a set of related sub-questions, ranging in scope from cognitive processes at the individual level to broader group dynamics and cultural and historical processes. These questions will be interrogated by two overlapping teams—historical and ethnographic-experimental—spread across CERC, and under my overall direction. Each team will address the sub-questions using the data and tools particular to their own specializations, and design their studies in such a way that our central hypothesis can be tested against competing, alternative theoretical models that have recently been advanced to explain the evolution of religion.

...
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