Talk Explores the Human Brain, Religious Belief

Justin Barrett, internationally recognized researcher in the cognitive science of religious belief, discusses “The Naturalness of the Supernatural: The Cognitive Science of Religion” Monday, April 6, at 7 p.m. in Hieronymus Lounge inside Westmont’s Kerrwood Hall. The Pascal Society Lecture is free and open to the public.

Barrett says throughout history and around the globe, the vast majority of people have believed in gods. “Recent approaches from the cognitive and evolutionary sciences address the question of why belief is so common,” he says. “Religion arises naturally from the architecture of human minds interacting in historically common environments.”

Barrett will also explore recent research that suggests that belief in a particular kind of deity — a super-knowing, super-powerful, creator God — may be even more thoroughly supported by natural human cognition.

Barrett, senior researcher and acting director of the University of Oxford’s Centre for Anthropology and Mind, is a lecturer in Oxford’s Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Calvin College and a doctorate from Cornell University, both in experimental psychology. Barrett is a founding editor of the Journal of Cognition and Culture and is a consulting editor for Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. He has authored numerous articles and chapters concerning cognitive science of religion. His book, “Why Would Anyone Believe in God?” presents a scientific account for the prevalence of religious beliefs.

The Pascal Society hosts interdisciplinary speakers who lecture on issues of science and faith.