e-rhizome 2019, 1(2):132-137 | DOI: 10.5507/rh.2019.007

How to Create a Religion

E. Thomas Lawson
Western Michigan University
1903 W Michigan Ave, Kalamazoo MI 49008-5320, United States

The aim of this paper is to suggest that it is worthwhile seeing what the various studies in the cognitive science of religion have taught us by engaging in a thought experiment in which we ask: "What would it take to create a religion on the basis of what we think that we now know about religiosity?" It will be an exercise in applied science by following a set of instructions.

Keywords: conceptual scheme, cognitive science of religion, action representation, counter-intuitive agent, ritual

Accepted: March 4, 2020; Published: December 30, 2019  Show citation

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Lawson, E.T. (2019). How to Create a Religion. e-rhizome, 1(2), 132-137. doi: 10.5507/rh.2019.007
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