From Majikthise:
Daniel Dennett’s new book Breaking the Spell has been systematically misrepresented by its critics. Frankly, I think a lot of them are getting hung up on the title. Breaking the Spell is not an attempt to discredit religion by subjecting it to scientific scrutiny. The “spell” Dennett wants to break is the taboo against the scientific study of religion. There is widespread concern that understanding religion as a natural phenomenon would undermine religious faith. Dennett agrees that disenchantment is an empirical possibility, but Breaking the Spell doesn’t use naturalistic explanations to refute or discredit religion…
It’s a widely-held article of meta-faith that religion is a force good in the world, irrespective of its truth or falsity. Dennett calls this stance “belief in belief.” Believers in belief insist that religiosity has robust real-world benefits that are, at least in theory, observable by all. They claim that religiosity makes people happier, better behaved, and so on. If religion is so good and science might tarnish religion, then maybe it’s irresponsible to probe too deeply. Even atheists might be prefer to leave well enough alone. Who are we to put our curiosity above the well-being of other people, even if we suspect that they are self-deluded? Some people worry that without religion there is no basis for morality. More cynical observers are concerned that the average person will see no reason to be moral without religion, despite sound non-religious arguments for ethical behavior.
Dennett argues that these worries are premature. The platitudes about the positive dividends of religion are themselves untested. In fact, we don’t know whether religion makes people happier, healthier, more trustworthy, or anything else…
More here. See more at 3QD about the Dennett book here.