Above the natural

Edward Tylor “belief in spiritual beings” ( 1873) Supernatural/sacred are culture specific

Gods, spirits, ghosts, paranormal activities etc.

Diversity of cultural meanings“Belief" is difficult in the cross-cultural

perspective Americans: May believe in God,

channeling, spiritualism Zunii: This is not a concept that makes

sense Religion is the doing/ practice

By definition, science seeks naturalistic explanations for physical phenomena. It does not study the supernatural.”

By Edward J. Larson Malinowski suggested:

based on rational understanding and Science: Instrumental (does things).

• Religion:

Based on belief/faith, works through the beseeching of the supernatural (prayer).

•God•Heaven •Hell•Psychic and spiritual healing

•Haunting houses•Possession by the devil•Ghosts o dead people returning

% OF BELIEVE

96%93%85%54%

50%41%

38%

Hallucinations Schizophrenia Split personality Anxiety

Conducted a study with 366 respondents in South Africa, where biomedical and traditional healing practices are both widely available.

Participants of all age groups agreed with biological explanations for at least one event.

Yet supernatural explanations frequently supported among children (ages 5 and up) and universally among adults.

Among the adult participants, only 26 percent believed the illness could be caused by either by any supernatural force.

While 38 percent split biological and scientific explanations into one theory.

“ If anything, in both industrialized and developing countries, supernatural explanations are frequently endorsed more often among adults than younger children”

Also called “Japan’s forest of death”.

Consider as a suicide forest by researchers because of the way bodies found.

Group of 5 American students visited forest ,3 of them are still missing and 2 were save.