Couldn’t really pass this one up, could I? New Scientist, a well respected more technical version of Scientific American has devoted an entire issue to the question of how Science and Religion can speak with one another. The majority of the articles discuss scientific research into the way religious experience has a biological basis, or the way that religious actions assist beneficial sociological movements.

The editors put it thusly in the beginning of the issue:

“In our enlightened world, god is still everywhere. In the UK, arguments rage over “militant atheism” and the place of religion in public life. In the US, religion is again taking centre stage in the presidential election. Try as we might, we just don’t seem to be able to let go.

Perhaps that is because we have been looking at god the wrong way. Atheists often see gods and religion as being imposed from above, a bit like a totalitarian regime. But religious belief is more subtle and interesting than that. In these articles we lay out a new scientific vision that promises to, if not resolve ancient tensions, at least reset the terms of the debate. “

More here. (You’ll probably want to bookmark this, there’s a lot reading to be done.)