Category Archives: Ch.4) Bumpkins in the Night

Tilly, our three-year-old pit bull, approached the flower bed cautiously, her body weight shifted behind her paws, ready to retreat in an eyeblink. As she intensely sniffed, her ears were stiffly erect and pointing forward. For each four inches she … Continue reading →

In all religions, and thus in all societies, people believe that agents unseen have intentionally generated the world we see. – Scott Atran (1) A developing, central component to a naturalistic understanding of religion includes the idea that humans are … Continue reading →

The memorable nymphs and fairies and goblins and demons that crowd the mythologies of every people are the imaginative offspring of a hyperactive habit of finding agency wherever anything puzzles or frightens us. – Daniel Dennett (7) It is a … Continue reading →

Faces and other human forms seem to pop out at us on all sides. . . . Voices murmur or whisper in wind and waves. – S. Guthrie (16) [N]ote that gods and spirits are not represented as having human … Continue reading →