It has become fashionable to assert that, far from being dead, belief in God is so deeply ingrained in the human psyche that it is universal and perpetual. This opinion influences the thinking of theists and scientists alike.

In "Jesus Was a Liberal: Reclaiming Christianity for All," theologian Scotty McLennen contends that because humans are hard-wired for religion, it must be reformed rather than refuted to better fit the modern world. The hypothesis that people are genetically preprogrammed to be pious because it confers...