The article isn't free on the Times any more.

[link|http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060930497/ref=ed_oe_p/002-7842890-7421651|Amazon]. I haven't read the book, but from the description it sounds as if he's trying to square a circle. That's fine - I understand why people try to do that (I did so at one time myself). But I don't think it works. Once one recognizes [link|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance|congnitive dissonance] in one's fundamental beliefs, it's hard to go back.

As for where the need for religion comes from, I think it goes back a long time. We each need to feel special, we each want to try to understand a world that is confusing and scary and mysterious, and we each want to feel safe. People naturally believe what their parents tell them about how the world works. I assume religion arose from these things. Whether it's honoring ancestors and tradition, or believing in spaceships hiding behind comets, I think the same processes are involved. I don't know if I believe that there's an innate center in the brain that is specifically tuned to belief in a God as opposed to these other things.

FWIW.

Cheers,
Scott.