Everytime I read some attempt to "explain" religious belief and/or "supernatural" phenomenon on a sociological basis I think, um, could it possibly be the case that such phenomenon are to some extent real? Belief in them is a near-universal human characteristic.
In fact, historically, atheism and/or agnosticism is just weird. Has there ever been an atheistic pre-modern society? Has there ever been a pre-modern society that didn't believe in ghosts and/or have some sort of ancestor cult? Either there is _some_ sort of reality underlying them, or it must be hardwired into the human brain, methinks.
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