In Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, philosopher and cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett argues that religion is a natural human phenomenon that can and should be studied with the tools of evolutionary biology, cognitive science, anthropology, and memetics, rather than remaining shielded by a cultural taboo that treats it as too sacred for rational inquiry.

He traces possible origins from ancient folk beliefs in spirits and ancestors through the development of organized religions, examining how such systems spread, persist, and shape morality, meaning, and social life. The result is a clear, wide-ranging, and often persuasive call for scientific openness about faith; while some readers find its evolutionary explanations speculative or its tone insufficiently sensitive to the lived experience of believers, it remains one of the more careful and constructive contributions to the public conversation on religion and science.