Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon

See also ideas

mind-cure movement

Mind’s I, The (Dennett and Hofstadter)

ministers

miracles

cures

the natural as opposed to

witnesses to

misinformation

misrepresentation

missionaries

mob hysteria

moderates

Mohawks

moleosophy

molluscs

money

evolutionary rationale for

theories of religion

monks

monoamines

monotheism

Moore, R. Laurence

moral cleansing

morale, religion as improving

morality

changing views on

crisis of

fitness distinguished from

relativism

religion and

self-interest and

in social sciences

spirituality associated with

morals in fairy tales

Moravec, Hans

Mormon Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

Morning Star

motion, animate

mountain climber example

Moynihan, Daniel Patrick

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus

muezzins

Muhammad

multiculturalism

multilevel selection theory

multiple-choice exams

multiplexing

music

addiction to

artifice in

as authorless

ear for

folk

if it were bad for you

natural versus nonnatural taste in

organized

religious

sexual selection as explanation of

supernormal stimuli in

mutations

of agent-ideas

evolution as depending on

indirect quotation as source of

of VMAT2 gene

of words

mutualism

of divination memes

of domestication of animals

of folk religion

of language memes

of shamanic healing rituals

in symbiont theories of religion

“my lucky stars”

myomancy

mysteries

creed revisions as

evolutionary theory as having no room

for

faith as required for penetrating

in immunity to disconfirmation

in physics

scientific method applied to

mystery novels

“mystical germ”

mythology

myths we live by

Â

Nagel, Thomas

Nag Hammadi gospels

Nambudiri

name-memes

National Football League

Native Americans

natural disasters

natural food

natural history

Natural History of Religion, The (Hume)

natural kinds

natural religion

natural selection

as algorithm

differential replication in

gene centrism versus external

continuities in

in genetic engineering

group

mind affected by

scientific evidence for

as substrate-neutral

transition from unconscious selection to

See also competition; fitness; mutations

Naturwissenschaften

Neanderthals

Needham, Rodney

Nelson, Bill

nephomancy

neuro-economics

neutrality about religion

New Age phenomena

Newberg, Andrew

New Britain Island

“New Replicators, The” (Dennett)

New Testament God

Newton, Isaac

Nietzsche, Friedrich

nipple, finding and clinging to

Nixon, Richard

nondenominational

non-overlapping magisteria,

nonsense, attention-grabbing

“no religion” response

norms of production

Norris, Kathleen

novelties

“now, ” meaning of

nucleotides

Number One, looking out for

numerology

nuptial gifts

nutrition

oaths, legal

objet trouvé

Oklahoma City bombing

Oldfield, Sir Maurice

Old Testament God

Oliver, Simon

Olsen, Ken

omniscience

one-child policy in China

One True God: Historical Consequences of

Monotheism (Stark)

On the Origin of Species (Darwin)

“on the side of angels”

Ontological Argument

open marriage

open-mindedness

“opiate of the masses”

opinion, versus belief

oral cultures, ritual as memory-enhancement device in

organized religion

age of

as distraction from root phenomenon

folk religion’s transition to

traces of folk religion in

orgasms in women

Orgel’s Second Rule

Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, The (Jaynes)

orthopraxy, versus orthodoxy

other minds, how nature deals with problem of

otherworldly rewards

“‘ought’ implies ‘can’”

“Our Lord”

outmoded terminology

Oxford English Dictionary

ozone layer

Â

Pagels, Elaine

pain, as intrinsically bad

Paine, Thomas

Palestine

Paley, William

Palmer, Craig T.

Panikkar, Raimundo

pantheism

Papua New Guinea

paradoxology

paranormal

paraphrase

parasite(s)

Dicrocelium dendriticum as

divination memes and

memes as

religion as

sexual reproduction for combating

Toxoplasma gondii as

parents

care by

and religious education

Parker, Dorothy

Parliament of World Religions

“passing the buck”

pastoralism

patents

Patmore, Coventry

Paul, Saint

peace

peaceful coexistence

peacocks

pearl theories

pedophiles

Pegasus

Penan

performance, religious

petroleum reserves

Perry Mason Fan Club

Persinger, Michael

personal rules

Pew Research Center

phallocentrism

pharmaceutical companies

Philby, Kim

Phillips, Emo

Phillips, Tom

Phillips, Wendell

philosophy

for finding right questions

as making the familiar strange

open-mindedness to every idea in

of religion

religion contrasted with

unenviable reputation of

photographic memory

Picasso, Pablo

pigeons

Pike, Nelson

Piltdown Man

Pinker, Steven

Pitts, Joseph

placebo effect

Plantinga, Alvin

Plato

plots, strategic information and

Poland

polar bears

polarization

policy prescriptions

politeness

political beliefs

political leaders

Polk, David

poltergeists

polytheism

Pomio Kivung cult

popular culture

population genetics

pornography

Porter, Cole

positive-feedback escalators

postmodernism

potlatch ceremonies

practical animism

“Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition” (song)

prayer

answered