Empirical studies on the evolution of religiosity and religions have been thriving these last years. These days, Springer's "Frontiers Collection" set a new standard. The Biological Evolution of Religious Mind and Behavior (BERMB) is rooted in the international Delmenhorst-conference on "The Biology of Religion" and has been expanded by contributions from other scholars. It is offering a broad picture of studies and models at the forefront of this scientifc field, which is tending toward interdisciplinary consesus on many subjects in surprisingly short time.

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The Bertelsmann Stiftung's RELIGION MONITOR is an instrument which looks at the issues of religion and faith to an unprecedented degree. It was developed by religious scientists, sociologists, psychologists and theologians and was first employed in 2007.

In a representative survey, 21,000 people from all continents and world religions were asked about their views on the world and the meaning of life, their religious practices and notions of God. The project will be repeated and expanded at regular intervals in order to carry out and produce an empirical study of the development of religiousness. For more information about the Bertelsmann Religion Monitor click here (pdf). (More)

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Few scientists have fuelled the contemporary dynamics of Evolutionary Religious Studies in the last years as anthropologist Richard Sosis from the University of Connecticut. With empirically driven studies ranging from US history to Israel and Ifaluk (in the Pacific Ocean), Richard observed and described how ritual behaviour toward supernatural agents enhanced cooperation.

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