Religion well explained? A response to commentaries on “Religion Re-explained”

This article responds to the commentaries on my “Religion Re-explained.” There is a common element running through many of the comments: ritual, its changing role as Pleistocene life became more complex, and the social factors that drove those changes cannot explain the content of religious narratives and of the doctrines those narratives turn into. For while there is much variation across religions, many or most involve supernatural agency and forces. Surely this could be such a common theme only if belief in the supernatural was in some way natural to the human mind. In this response, I clarify and expand an alternative account, while responding as well to more particular questions and objections.