Download or read book Religion As Make-Believe written by Neil Van Leeuwen and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2023 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on a range of hard evidence, Neil Van Leeuwen shows that the psychological mechanisms underlying religious belief are the same as those enabling imaginative play. He argues that we should therefore understand religious belief as a form of make-believe that people use to define their group identity and express the values sacred to them.