ABSTRACT
Darwin teaches us that given (1) variation, (2) high-delity inheritance, and (3) constraints on reproduction, organization in nature will gradually accumulate. Opposable thumbs, echolocation, zebra stripes, and colour vision manifest striking design. But they do not require architects. Many have considered the elimination of designer gods to be evolutionary biology’s most important contribution to the study of religion. Scott Atran thinks differently. For Atran, naturalists after Darwin should avoid theology. We should instead study theologians. That is, we should use evolutionary biology to shed light on religious minds. Here I present, motivate, and evaluate (Atran 2002).
