Why We Believe in God

Why We Believe In God(s) provides a brief and accessible guide to the exciting new discoveries that allow us to finally understand why and how the human mind generates, accepts, and spreads religious beliefs.

"This book about the evolutionary drivers of religiosity would have delighted [Darwin].... One by one the components of religion receive the Thomson treatment. Every point he makes has the ring of truth, abetted by a crisp style and vivid imagery. Andy Thomson is an outstandingly persuasive lecturer, and it shines through his writing. This short, punchy book will be swiftly read—and long remembered."

—Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, from the foreword of Why We Believe in God(s)

"Andy Thomson, with Clare Aukofer, has written a wonderfully concise introduction to our growing scientific understanding of religion. If you would like to learn, in the span of an hour, why we have every reason to believe that God is man-made—this is the book to read."

—Sam Harris, author of the New York Times best sellers The Moral Landscape, Letter to a Christian Nation, and The End of Faith

J. Anderson "Andy" Thomson Jr. is a staff psychiatrist at the University of Virginia's Student Health Center and the Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy, and maintains a private practice of adult and forensic psychiatry in Charlottesville, Virginia. He serves as a trustee of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. Clare Aukofer is a writer and editor in Charlottesville, Virginia.