Religion is Not about God: How Spiritual Traditions Nurture Our Biological Nature and What to Expect When They Fail

404 Pages·2004·3.75 MB·English

by  Loyal Rue

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RELIGION IS NOT ABOUT GOD
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R e l i g i o n
I s NO T
A bso u t G o d
How Spiritual Traditions
Nurture Our Biological Nature
and what to expect
when they fail
Loyal Rue
Rutgers University Press
New Brunswick, NJ and London
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rue, Loyal D.
Religion is not about God : how spiritual traditions nurture our biological nature
and what to expect when they fail / Loyal Rue.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-8135-3511-5 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Psychology, Religious. 2. Genetic psychology. I. Title.
BL53.R82 2005
200(cid:1).1(cid:1)9—dc22
2004007531
A British Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available
from the British Library
Copyright © 2005 by Loyal Rue
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without written permission from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers University Press,
100 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854–8099.
The only exception to this prohibition is “fair use” as defined by U.S. copyright law.
Manufactured in the United States of America
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contents
Preface, vii
Introduction, 1
Part i On Human Nature
1. The Epic of Evolution, 21
2. The Evolution of Behavior, 28
3. The Education of Emotion, 78
4. The Nature of Religion, 125
Part ii On Spiritual Traditions
5. Judaism, 167
6. Christianity, 194
7. Islam, 224
8. Hinduism, 252
9. Buddhism, 279
Part iii On the Future of Religion
10. The Crisis of Influence, 315
11. Doomsday and Beyond, 341
Notes, 369
Index, 381
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PREFACE
I grew up in a home where the religious life was taken very seriously,
and where the assumption that religion was all about God was never
challenged. But somewhere along the line I began to see that behind
the stories, hymns, and prayers there were serious human motives at
work. Without these motives, I reasoned, there would be no religion.
It was then a short step to the conclusion that human motives were
ultimately both the source and the substance of the religious life. Re-
ligion was not really about God after all. Oddly enough, I have no
clear recollection of when or how this fundamental change in per-
spective took place. It just occurred to me one day that I had been
thinking this way for many years. From that day onward it was just a
matter of time before this book would appear.
This book has been helped along by many conversation partners
over the years. There is no way to list them all, but the ones that come
most quickly to mind include the following: Thomas Berry, David
Bishop, Michael Cavanaugh, Eric Chaisson, Terrence Deacon, Ursula
Goodenough, John Grim, Marc Hauser, Philip Hefner, Jerome Kagan,
GordonKaufman,AlanMacdonald,BillOrme-Johnson,V.V.Raman,
Philip Reitan, Michael Ruse, Conrad Røyksund, Kent Simmonds,
Tex Sordahl, Terry Sparkes, Philemon Sturges, Lawrence Sullivan,
Brian Swimme, Mary Evelyn Tucker, Edward O. Wilson, and Richard
Wrangham.
In addition, the 1997–1998 fellows at Harvard’s Center for the
Study of World Religions were particularly helpful, as have been
members of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science. Periodic
financial support from the John M. Templeton Foundation has been
most helpful and greatly appreciated. Audra Wolfe, science editor at
Rutgers University Press, deserves my gratitude for her expertise and
support. A special thanks goes to Jennifer Tomscha for putting finish-
ing touches on the manuscript and to Lyman Lyons for his able and
meticulous copyediting. Finally, and yet again, I thank my family for
their loving endurance and support.
Decorah, Iowa
Spring 2004
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RELIGION IS NOT ABOUT GOD