The valuable contribution of cognitive science of religion is the insight on the propensity of the human mind for dealing with supernatural agents, and their ability for access to the human mind. Science has the expertise on nature. These insights on nature serve as a platform for further understanding religious phenomena and truth-claims.
Cognitive Science of Religion has been often, according to Barrett (2007, p.12) falsely, associated with an anti-religious agenda. Dawkins (2006), for instance, uses the same findings in his effort to free the world of religious thought. There are others who scorn the possibility of applying the findings of evolutionary science to religion (Pinker, 2006).
Bering and Johnson (2005) justify the existence of the cognitive hardware described above, by pointing out to the logic of the adaptive process, in the language of evolution:
We have inherited the general template for religiosity because those early humans who abandoned the prospect of supernatural agents, or who lacked the capacity to represent their involvement in moral affairs, were likely met with an early death at the hands of their own group members, or at least reduced reproductive success. Those who readily acquiesced to the possibility of moralizing gods, and who lived their lives in fear of such agencies, survived to become our ancestors (pp.136-137).
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