Shameless plug: I've just finished a book on this topic titled 'God, Theology & Cognitive Modules' (search Amazon.com).

I'm doing research in cognitive science, and I have developed a model of the mind based in interacting high-level cognitive modules. Two of these modules appear to function emotionally (there are two amygdalae in the mind, which function as emotional processors). One emotional module associates emotions with experiences (eg. bacon tastes good, country music makes me feel bad, etc.) The other emotional module appears to attach an emotional label to theories (usually verbal) based upon generality--the more general the theory, the greater the emotion. (What motivates the egg-head? Obviously not experiential emotion because he's often socially inept. But, when he grasps how things fit together by coming up with a general theory, then he feels good.)

When these two emotional cognitive modules start interacting, then religious and/or magical thinking emerges. Thus, it appears that one can use a cognitive model to analyze the mental effects which are being discovered by the cognitive science of religion. In simplest terms, a mental concept of God appears to emerge whenever a universal theory applies to personal identity.

This mental effect appears to occur even if the universal theory explicitly states that no God exists. The person holding on to such a theory will say that there is no God while at the same time ascribing attributes to his universal theory which are god-like. For instance, one book on cognitive science and religion which I recently read used the term 'design' almost fifty times to describe the 'work' of evolution (I counted).

Emotions motivate behavior (Why does a person eat bacon? Because it tastes good.) Because a concept of God appears to emerge when two of the primary forms of emotion intersect (universal theory and personal identity), religion has emotional power and can motivate behavior. And, because an image of God emerges when theoretical emotion overlaps with experiential emotion it is easy to confuse one with the other, or to use one to substitute for the other. Think, for instance, of the mystic who feels that he is 'one with the universe', or the worshipper who says 'God is awesome' and then uses experiential fervor to make these words feel universal.

If you wish, think of religion as a computer virus. The tendency is to treat religion the way that Apple treats computer viruses, by pretending that they don't exist and attacking the person who points them out. The average religious believer may be like a script kiddie who cuts and pastes his beliefs, but some interesting cognitive programming is occurring behind the surface.

Here is a bigger problem. I am a professional violinist. I just flew across the ocean with my violin. It is a fragile, wooden object which cannot handle freezing temperatures. If it gets too cold, it will crack. In thirty years of flying, I have NEVER checked my violin. I ALWAYS carry it on. My fiddle is only worth a few thousand dollars, but what about musicians travelling with antique instruments worth $100,000 or more? They simply are NOT going to allow their heirlooms to be put in the hold.