B-Side Spirituality: An Empathetic Theory of Religion and Ethnographic Data About Spiritual (but Not Religious) Belonging

Abstract

Abstract According to some cognitive and neuroscientific theories, religion is not an evolved adaptation but rather an artifact, one that may lead to adaptive behaviors. Here I relate (a) an empathetic theory of religion with (b) a functional theory of musicality to clarify religion’s adaptive features. This theory contributes to previous research by explaining the link between spirituality and music and makes the nontrivial prediction that increasing numbers of people who are disaffected by traditional religious institutions will find modes of meaning-making and fellow-feeling in contemporary festival and live music scenes.