At TED 2006, Dan Dennett spoke out for the unbiased study of religion as a natural, biological phenomenon. His hope may come true. The Economist writes of recent headway made into understanding of religious belief — in particular a new project called Explaining
Religion, the “largest-ever scientific study of the subject.” EXREL’s goal is to integrate research on religious faith in biology, anthropology and psychology. It is funded by the European Commission and tethered to the University of Oxford research community.–Matthew Trost