The Illusion of God's Presence by Wathey, John C. -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Page CONTENTS PREFACE PART 1: SEEING GOD IN A NEW LIGHT

Chapter 1: Is God Beyond The Reach of Science?

A Road to Damascus Not Taken What Is the Real Reason for Belief in God? A Sense of Presence Requirements for a Scientific Theory of Religion

Chapter 2: Illusions Can Be Broken

What Does It Mean to Call Something an Illusion? The Illusory Perception of God Parable of the Mysterious Witness Mental Gymnastics

Chapter 3: The Elephant in the Room

Is There a God Instinct? Is God an Evolutionary By-Product? Is God a Virus? Is God a Figment of Our Cognition? Why Is God a Cruel Tyrant? Why the Obsession with Death? Something Is Missing from This Picture

Chapter 4: The God-Shaped Vacuum

Neonatal Survival A Sea Turtle's Infancy Human Infancy and the Presence of God The Innate Image of Mother The Gull-Shaped Vacuum Implications

PART 2: EVIDENCE AND QUESTIONS

Chapter 5: Infantile Imagery in Religion

Religious Experience Prayer Ritual Hymns Popular Religious Literature The Messiah Sacred Texts Sermons Sunday School Lessons Secular Sources Art and Architecture Role Reversals

Chapter 6: The Nature and Nurture of Religious Experience

Freud Upgraded Attachment as a Biological Need God as an Attachment Figure Correspondence and Compensation A Menu of Life Paths The Raw Material of Evolution Oedipus Wrecks

Chapter 7: Two Biological Roots: Social Cooperation and Neonatal Survival

The Two-Faced God The Dichotomy of Religion Spiritual but Not Religious Our Coins, the Pledge, and Prayer in Public Schools The Mysterious Appeal of the Shakers Is Religion Only Two-Dimensional?

Chapter 8: Is God an Evolutionary Hack?

Why Would the Innate Model Persist beyond Infancy? The Hack of Infantile, Maternal, and Sexual Love Why Are Women More Religious Than Men? Why the Obsession with Sex? The Hack of Hypersociality

Chapter 9: From Cuttlefish to Cults

How or Why? Malignant Narcissism as an Adaptation Cross-Dressing Cuttlefish Leaders, Followers, and Evolutionary Stability Sacrifice as a Biological Signal Human Nature Run Amok

Chapter 10: Creator, Mother, Fluid, Etc.

Why Is God a Creator? Why Is God Not Female? Why Are Priests Not Female? Why Do Believers Pray? Why Ecstasy and Violence? Why So Many Nasty Gods? What about Godless Religions? Why Are There Atheists?

Chapter 11: Does an Infant Have a Mind?

Infantile Amnesia and Neural Development Selective Attention as a Window to the Mind The Sense of Motion The Smell and Taste of Mother Rewarding Touch Motherese The Perception of Faces Seeing Biological Motion Imitation and the Expectation of Mother Isn't This Illusion Maladaptive?

Chapter 12: A Trick of the Brain

Innate Knowledge Is the Core of Human Nature Faith Is Tenacious Because It Is Addictive An Embodied Self Reads the Minds of Others God's Presence Is a Drug-Free Hallucination The Trick

Chapter 13: The Supernormal Phantom

Are We All Born Atheists? Other Things Explained Supporting Evidence Predictions Red Pill or Truman's Boat?

PART 3: PERSONAL IMPLICATIONS

Chapter 14: The Illusion of Immortality

Mind-Brain Unity Mind-Brain Dualism

Chapter 15: What If God Is Not Real?

A Drastic Change in Worldview God, Your Loved Ones, and You Coping with Death God, Humanity, and the Earth

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS APPENDIX 1: THE STUMBLING BLOCK OF CREATIONISM

Misconceptions Recommendations Adjustments in Thinking

APPENDIX 2: A PSYCHOMETRIC TEST NOTES REFERENCES INDEX

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