Religion is particularly active in contexts where there's a lot of strife and unpredictability. Religion also helps to bond the commun to act as a defensive bulwark against these kind of effects. Some psychological evidence suggests that people do become more religious in those sort of contexts, but i don't see any reason to sdu o view that as unlikely.
Robin Dunbar has been hailed as one of the most insightful and creative evolutionary thinkers of our time, famed for his work on human networks and communities (he came up with the Dunbar number, the idea that humans can have no more than 150 meaningful relationships). Now he turns his attention to religion, the subject of his recent book, How Religion Evolved: And Why It Endures. Joining Robin in conversation on the podcast is Stuart Ritchie, Psychologist at King's College London, and author of Science Fictions.
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