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Economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley and a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury. Author of Slouching Towards Utopia and writer of the Grasping Reality newsletter.

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  In ancient Canaanite and Israelite religion, the bull symbolized God Most High rather than the subordinate god Ba'al Haddad.

  Their words

  We won't even get into the fact that in the most ancient religions of Canaan and Israel, the bull is primarily a symbol of God Most High, not of the subordinate Ba'al Haddad

  braddelong.substack.com

Political scientist and Baptist pastor; writes Graphs about Religion, charting American religious life from survey data.

From one piece Do Religious Families Actually Have More Kids? 2 beliefs, in the piece's order there

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  Religion barely explains how many children an American family has.

  America

  Their words

  Yes, religion does seem to have an impact on the decision about the number of kids a family will have, but it’s a very minor difference.

  Do Religious Families Actually Have More Kids?graphsaboutreligion.com

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  A religion cannot revive itself by encouraging its members to have more children.

  Their words

  Embracing an approach to religious renewal by encouraging fertility doesn’t seem like a strategy that will move the needle in a significant way.

  Do Religious Families Actually Have More Kids?graphsaboutreligion.com

Programmer and teacher; writes on software, learning and the web, and makes the Coding Blocks video course.

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  Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion

  Their words

  Good, concise and straight-forward exploration of spirituality. Loved it.

  rakhim.org

Science fiction novelist, journalist and technology activist; writes the daily blog and newsletter Pluralistic, and coined the term enshittification.

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  Obstetrix

  Their words

  All told, this is a read-in-one-sitting thriller that does as much to illuminate the workings and dynamics of patriarchy and religion as any gender studies class. It's peak Kritzer (so far), and that's saying something.

  pluralistic.net

American novelist and critic, author of Real Life, The Late Americans and Minor Black Figures; writes the newsletter sweater weather on literature and culture.

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  A person's death, more than their life, is what turns them into a viral, revered symbol.

  Their words

  Dying is the ultimate form of virality. The ultimate anointing in the religion of attention.

  american symbolismblgtylr.substack.com

Economist at George Mason University, co-author of Marginal Revolution, host of Conversations with Tyler. Writes in short, dense claims about economics, culture and AI, and has moved position on AI in public more than once.

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  Religions of Early India: A Cultural History

  Their words

  A very useful background read for understanding later Indian history and religions, as well as the more general spread of religion throughout the southern regions of Asia.

  marginalrevolution.com

Assyriologist and curator at the British Museum; reads cuneiform, and wrote The Ark Before Noah and The First Ghosts.

From one piece Deciphering Secrets of Ancient Civilizations, Noah’s Ark, and Flood Myths | Lex Fridman Podcast #487 2 beliefs, in the piece's order there

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  Monotheism was mankind's big mistake, because it brought evil into the world.

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  I think the big mistake for mankind was the creation of monotheistic religions, because they brought evil into the world. Because if you believe in a monotheistic religion, that means I’m right and you’re wrong if you don’t.

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  Law, morality, consideration and love do not depend on religion.

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  Because not having religion does not mean not having law or morality or sensitivity or consideration or love or any of those things. None of those things depends on religion, and those are the things which are important.

  youtube.com

Founded CD Baby in 1998 and sold it in 2008, giving the proceeds to a charitable trust for music education. Since then a writer and speaker: five books and 550+ articles, published first at sive.rs, which they hand-code and keep free of advertising.

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  Waste Books

  Their words

  Tweets from 1765-1799 by a 4’9” hunchback physicist, friends with Goethe and Kant, admired by Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, etc. Such wonderful random thoughts, beautiful perspectives on thinking for yourself, observing nature, language, freedom, philosophy, religion, and more. Hundreds of initial insights, especially inspiring because they’re undeveloped.

  sive.rs

Anthropologist; wrote Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World and The Secret History of the Mongol Queens.

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  Genghis Khan made religion the choice of the individual rather than a right granted to institutions, and nobody in history had thought of that before.

  Their words

  It allowed that, but he said, every person has the right to choose their religion. No one can stop them. No one can force them. The idea that it was individual choice, no one in history had ever thought of that, that it belonged to the person.

  youtube.com

Archaeologist of the Maya and the ancient Americas; directs the Maya Exploration Center and presents the ArchaeoEd podcast.

From one piece Ed Barnhart: Maya, Aztec, Inca, and Lost Civilizations of South America | Lex Fridman Podcast #446 3 beliefs, in the piece's order there

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  Religion in South America began in the Amazon, not on the coast.

  America

  Their words

  I think religion in South America began in the Amazon. I think there were people there, very old. Actually, the earliest pottery in all of the Americas, all these places that we have civilizations that grew up, you know where the oldest pottery is? The middle of the Amazon.

  youtube.com

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  Hallucinogens shaped religion in the Americas in a way they could not elsewhere, because almost every psychotropic plant is American.

  America

  Their words

  In fact, strangely, the majority of plants that are actually psychotropic, not just mood altering, are from here in the Americas. There are very few drugs that will make you hallucinate outside of the Americas.

  youtube.com

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  Andean religion was essentially monotheistic: one fanged creator deity stands behind cultures separated by thousands of years.

  Their words

  But he is the one creator deity, in my opinion, through all of these cultures. And the people in the Amazon still talk about him there. His name is Viho Masse in some groups, but they say that his emissaries on earth are the jaguars and that he is the creator deity.

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Historian of Ukraine at Harvard; wrote The Gates of Europe, Chernobyl and The Russo-Ukrainian War.

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  The Russian Empire acquired a sixth of the Earth by integrating conquered elites rather than their peoples, and nationalism is what made that model fall apart.

  Russia

  Their words

  The elites would be integrated, and the empire was based on the state loyalty and the state integration. But once you bring in the factor of nation and nationalism and language, then, once in a sudden, the whole model of the integration of the elites, irrespective of their language, religion, and culture, starts falling apart.

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Founded CD Baby in 1998 and sold it in 2008, giving the proceeds to a charitable trust for music education. Since then a writer and speaker: five books and 550+ articles, published first at sive.rs, which they hand-code and keep free of advertising.

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  Finite and Infinite Games

  Their words

  So abstract. Maybe the most abstract book you’ll ever read. Compares “finite” games with rules and winners, versus “infinite” games without winners where we can play with the game itself. Is it about a job versus a calling? Religion versus spirituality? A story versus story-telling? Who knows. Thought-provoking if you can apply the metaphor to whatever concerns you.

  sive.rs

Founded CD Baby in 1998 and sold it in 2008, giving the proceeds to a charitable trust for music education. Since then a writer and speaker: five books and 550+ articles, published first at sive.rs, which they hand-code and keep free of advertising.

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  How Religion Evolved

  Their words

  Great anthropology! So many insights into religions, tribes, friendships, organizations, the evolution of minds, superstition, and more. Got me thinking most about friendships.

  sive.rs

Founded CD Baby in 1998 and sold it in 2008, giving the proceeds to a charitable trust for music education. Since then a writer and speaker: five books and 550+ articles, published first at sive.rs, which they hand-code and keep free of advertising.

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  The Righteous Mind

  Their words

  Brilliant insights into human nature. Moral reasoning, inventing victims, emotional reactions, the elephant (emotions) and its rider (explanations). Intuition reacts then logic confabulates a reason. Survival of the fittest applied to groups. Understanding religion and tradition. Great from start to finish.

  sive.rs

Statistician at Carnegie Mellon; writes on complex systems, machine learning and inference, and has kept a books-read notebook since 2000 that is now thousands of entries long.

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  Alberuni's India: An Account of the Religion, Philosophy, Literature, Geography, Chronology, Astronomy, Customs, Laws and Astrology of India about A.D. 1030

  Their words

  It's mostly readable, though there are quite a few places where the translator calls for more research and this reprint, naturally, doesn't say whether it's been followed up *. In any event, I found this fascinating.

  bactra.org

Writer and novelist. Publishes essays and book notes at nateliason.com; author of the novel Husk and of Crypto Confidential.

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  The Bhagavad Gita

  Their words

  Fantastic, many similar ideas to Stoicism and Virtue Ethics, though with more mystical elements thrown in. Would highly recommend it as a “first taste” of eastern religion.

  nateliason.com

Programmer; builds Mac and iOS apps, wrote WatermelonDB, and writes about tools, focus and software craft.

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  This Is Your Brain on Parasites

  Their words

  Another biology-related book. Explores the role of parasites (and bacteria, disease, disgust) in human behavior, attraction, even politics, morality, religion. Some of this is is cutting-edge, speculative, or not fully proven — but very interesting stuff indeed.

  radex.io