The first three postings in this series remind us how complex the individual topics of cognitive science, Buddhism, and religious experience can be. Certainly there are many interpretations of each---many more than an entire monograph could account for, let alone a column in the New York Times---and reminders of the density of such topics are valuable and need to be repeated. But the cultural pheno...

Following the recent California Supreme Court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage, National Public Radio offered a report on "the coming storm" between two "titanic" legal principles: "equal treatment for same-sex couples" and "the freedom to exercise religious beliefs." The report gave several examples of this "collision," which opponents cite as proof that same-sex marriage is a threat to religi...

Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im's expressed goal in Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Shari'a is to convince Muslims on religious grounds that, in order for Islam to flourish, they need to establish secular states based on the protection of human rights. I would say in response that convincing Muslims of this would inflect Islamic politics progressively in a world where most of the fo...

A century ago, in "Religion and Neurology," the opening chapter of The Varieties of Religious Experience, William James argued against a "medical materialism" that would reduce religious experiences to their neurological causes for the purpose either of dismissing them or confirming them. Since that time, many have tried to understand religion through the study of religious experience and, like Jam...

What exactly was wrong with the Yearning for Zion ranch---home to a group identified with the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints---as a place to raise children? It is plain that with respect to any child for whom there is reason to believe that there is ongoing sex abuse---and the state did receive a phone complaint from a girl complaining of abuse---the state of Texas has a...