Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson examines religion through the lens of human cognitive limitations, arguing that religion is a powerful cultural technology that has evolved alongside humanity. He traces religion's origins to our evolutionary need for hyper-agency detection and explains how shared ritual transformed individual superstition into a uniquely effective mechanism for cooperation and social cohesion. Anderson presents demographic data showing that religion will remain dominant globally through 2050, with Islam as the fastest-growing faith, while noting that fundamentalist movements outperform progressive ones in providing psychological and social goods. He challenges both religious and secular audiences to recognize religion's enduring power and calls for innovative approaches that can harness its potential while addressing its limitations—framing this as a "race to the death between innovation and cataclysm."

Jared Anderson, president and founder of the Olan Institute, proposes "reverse-engineering religion" to harness its unique cultural power for addressing humanity's urgent problems—climate change, inequality, conflict, and more. He argues that religion is the most powerful cultural technology ever developed, yet it is often aimed at the wrong targets. Anderson outlines a framework for creating "religious humanism": a high-church tradition with rigorous rituals, community structures, and beliefs that allow for both literal and figurative interpretation. His vision includes denominations like Earth Church (environmentalism), Life Church (education and science), and Tech Church (transhumanism).

Jared Anderson explores three approaches to faith crisis: apologetics, which defends inherited beliefs but leaves adherents vulnerable to new information; selective emphasis, which rebuilds meaning by highlighting a tradition’s most beneficial elements; and complete reconstruction through new myths and systems of meaning. Anderson argues that critical inquiry can only demolish worldviews—reconstruction is an art requiring theology, aesthetics, relationships, heritage, syncretism, and activism. He concludes that humanism and transhumanism offer frameworks for rebuilding when the “rabbit hole goes all the way down.”