Why We Need Religion

"Stephen T. Asma argues that religion, like art, has direct access to our emotional lives in ways that science does not. Science can cause curiosity and wonder, but much emotional suffering and vulnerability is beyond the reach of scientific help. Unlike secular authors who praise religion's ethical and civilizing functions, Asma argues that its core value lies in its emotionally therapeutic power...Asma describes the way in which religion manages rage, play, lust, care grief, and so on. [This book] is a surprising and persuasive Darwinian defense of religious emotions and the cultural systems that manage them."--