and is now a published psychiatrist. He suggests that this "account of religious motivation...is...far removed from evidence and data." and that, even if the God-meme approach were valid, "it does not give rise to one set of consequences... Out of the many behaviours it produces, why are we required to isolate only those that might be regarded as diseased? And who ... decides, and on what grounds, what is diseased? ... there is nothing here as objective as the observation of chicken-pox... the observer...is highly relative". In his 2005 book The Sacred Neuron: The Extraordinary New Discoveries Linking Science and Religion he suggests that it is incorrect to view faith and reason as opposing functions. He argues that recent discoveries in the neurosciences are revealing startling facts about the workings of the human mind and how certain ideas are processed into beliefs. His publishers assert that "John Bowker shows that faith and belief are not separate or distinct from reason, but are actually rooted in it. And science—especially neurophysiology—is the key to unlocking how we think about God, about the relationship between different cultures and religions, and about the processes of the human mind that influence our behavior. When rationality and faith are viewed as complementary a new understanding of the human mind can serve as a basis for resolving conflicts between religions and cultures. This discovery has stunning implications for the world." Bibliography Religion Hurts: Why Religions do Harm as well as Good (2018) Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, Why Religions Matter (2015) Cambridge University Press Paperback. Hardback God: A very Short Introduction (2014) Oxford University Press, The Message and the Book (2011) Atlantic Books Hardback Beliefs That Changed the World (2007) World Religions (2006) Dorling Kindersley, The Sacred Neuron: The Extraordinary New Discoveries Linking Science and Religion Palgrave macMillan (2005) God: A Brief History (2004) Dorling Kindersley, The Cambridge Illustrated History of Religion (2002—editor) The Complete Bible Handbook (1998) 2nd Ed (2004) The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1997), Oxford University Press, Licensed Insanities: religions and belief in God in the contemporary world (1997) DLT The Sense of God Oneworld Publications (1995) What Muslims Believe (1995) Is God a Virus?: Genes, Culture and Religion (1995) SPCK The Meanings of Death (1991) Worlds of Faith: Religious belief and practice in Britain today (1989) BBC Jesus and the Pharisees (1973) The Problems of Suffering in the Religions of the World