Many religious traditions evolved techniques of chanting specific texts, which sometimes induced religious experiences and trances. Although Christianity and Islam had evolved their own forms (i.e. Catholic rosary prayer or Sufi dhikr, often accompanied by the use of prayer beads), Hindu chantings of "Hare Krishna. Krishna Krishna. Hare Rama. Rama Rama." became a huge success in the 60s and 70s among young seekers in Western countries.  (More)

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Jesse Bering, director of the Institute of Cognition & Culture at Belfast University, is to be counted among the most creative and captivating proponents of evolutionary psychology in the dynamic field of the Evolutionary Religious Studies. In a series of intriguing experiments, he has explored whether children are equipped with neurobiological traits toward "intuitive theism" and his findings have strongly supported adaptionist hypotheses on religiosity and religions. (More)

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These last days, we have witnessed a piece of history in religions and politics: US-President Barack Hussein Obama giving an interreligious speech as a Christian to Muslims worldwide, using scientifc studies of Gallup for preparation, circumventing extremists and authoritarian regimes by inviting religious and scientific scholars, opposition leaders and human rights activists - and especially by using the new possibilities of the Internet. Hundreds of Millions have yet heard his message, thousands more taking and discussing the speech in this very moment. As extremists and nationalists, who used to abuse Muslim, Christian, Jewish and other teachings to incite fear and violence, are fuming, pro-peace, pro-dialogue and pro-democracy voices among the religious people are growing in confidence and strength. And there are fresh voices around: Robert Wright did an analysis from the perspective of evolutionary religious studies. Here is the video and complete text of Obama's speech.

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