The New York Times has posted an 11-page article called Darwin’s God, which is based on the research of anthropologist Scott Atran. This is not an anti-religion article, but a study on its evolution. Religion comes in many forms, with many supernatural elements, and has existed long before Christianity. Atran delves into the question of why religion formed.

Which is the better biological explanation for a belief in God — evolutionary adaptation or neurological accident?

This weighty article covers a broad variety of subtopics, including his theory on how humans are “hardwired” to believe in the supernatural as a survival mechanism, especially where the afterlife is concerned. The first and foremost fear that most of us have is death. Neither science nor religion has a definitive answer on what happens to our soul once we die.