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In Hansonian terms: Your instinctive willingness to believe something will change along with your willingness to affiliate with people who are known for believing it—quite apart from whether the belief is actually true. Some people may be reluctant to believe that God does not exist, not because there is evidence that God does exist, but rather bec
... See moreEliezer Yudkowsky • Rationality
Putnam and Campbell reject the New Atheist emphasis on belief and reach a conclusion straight out of Durkheim: “It is religious belongingness that matters for neighborliness, not religious believing.”
Jonathan Haidt • The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
It may be that, subconsciously, we all settle for explanations we are predisposed to accept, and reject those we are predisposed against.
Richard Holloway • Stories We Tell Ourselves: Making Meaning in a Meaningless Universe
merit of traditional religious world-views
Benedict Anderson • Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism
the Religion of Whiteness.
Michael O. Emerson • The Religion of Whiteness
Yuval Noah Harari • Sapiens
They appear to want some of the same things most of us want: recognition from their peers and communities and better lives for the people they care about. Being
Jessica C. Flack • Worlds Hidden in Plain Sight: The Evolving Idea of Complexity at the Santa Fe Institute, 1984–2019 (Compass)
Our beliefs feel personal to us because they are us.
Will Storr • The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better
The global trade network of today is based on our trust in such fictional entities as the dollar, the Federal Reserve Bank, and the totemic trademarks of corporations. When two strangers in a tribal society want to trade, they will often establish trust by appealing to a common god, mythical ancestor or totem animal.