Explaining our predisposition to religious belief, just as scientists can explain taste and perception of color, does not explain it away, says Michael Graziano. “I’m a neuroscientist and also an atheist, but I’m not an anti-theist.” “Nor do I believe that science…can somehow persuade people that religion is nonsense.” “For the vast majority of people, religion is a way of life. It is about community and music, place and food, comfort and emotional support. It is, like all of human culture and experience, a function of our peculiar neurobiology, and we should try to appreciate it as such.”
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Religion For Its Own Sake
Explaining our predisposition to religious belief, just as scientists can explain taste and perception of color, does not make it a nonsense, says neuroscientist Michael Graziano.
Monthly Issue
April 2026
In this monthly issue, we examine how our understanding of energy — and how we source and use it — is evolving.
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