The most recent volume of the journal Child Development has a fascinating article on "Trust in Testimony: How Children Learn About Science and Religion" by Paul Harris and Melissa Koenig. Though the two are psychologist, there is plenty of philosophy put to good use in the article. Harris and Koenig review a number of studies relating to children's understanding of unobservable scientific and religious entities. (Sorry Dennett, more evidence that there is no taboo against the scientific study of religion.) Children appear to conceptualize the two subjects in similar fashion while bracketing the two into separate domains. Unsurprisingly, children place more confidence in the information they receive regarding unobservable scientific entities than about things in the religious domains. However, "it would be a mistake to conclude that children’s trust in testimony simply offers them a way to amplify or extend their own powers of observation. Although in some domains it does just that, it also leads them to be credulous toward spiritual claims that are not ultimately grounded in observational evidence."
Roger Lundin, Blanchard Professor of English at Wheaton College, has an interesting essay in Books & Culture on pragmatism, postmodernity, and the theology of experience. I wish I had time for more thoughtful comment, but I particularly enjoyed the traced connections between Emerson and William James, their work, and the enduring influence of their work.
Beliefnet editor Laura Sheahen has an interview with The End of Faith author Sam Harris on why religion must end.
Anthony Matteo, professor of philosophy at Elizabethtown College, has a lengthy article in Science & Spirit one why naturalism might not be able to solve the problem of consciousness T
om Hundley of the Chicago Tribune reports on the decline of religious belief in Europe, particularly Eastern Europe. Some of this is the aftermath of communism, but it's important because while Europeans and Americans share some common heritage we are diverging on matters of faith and religion.
Nextbook has an interview with Rebecca Goldstein, professor of philosophy at Trinity College, on Baruch Spinoza and her recent book Betraying Spinoza.