Chapter 8: Belief in God Summary and Analysis

Eighty-four percent of the world's population belongs to some form of organized religion which at the end of 2009 represented 5.7 billion people. There are some ten-thousand different religions. America is among the most religious countries. Even among atheists, there is a prevailing sense that something else is "out there." Why do so many people believe in God? One answer is that God is the ultimate pattern that answers everything. God is also the ultimate agent who gives our lives meaning. Although religions vary widely, at the core of most every religion is a supernatural being or spirit. The brain is prepped for belief in God in three ways through "evolutionary theory, behavior genetics and comparative world religions." (p. 165).

Charles Darwin noted in "Descent of Man, that belief in the spiritual world was universal and could be...