The idea that religious belief is ‘almost inevitable’ is so forcefully argued by Justin Barrett (2004, 2012) that it can warrant justifiable concern (Shook, 2017; Sterelny, 2018) – especially since he claims atheism is an unnatural handicap (2012, p. 203). In this article, I argue that religious belief in Homo sapiens isn’t inevitable – and that Barrett does agree when pushed. I describe the role played by a Hyperactive Agency Detection Device (HADD) in the generation of belief in God as necessary but insufficient in explaining religious culture – I distance myself from some common conceptions of HADD and the view I take of it is unorthodox. I point out that the conclusion to Barrett’s (2004) book, ‘Why Would Anyone Believe in God?’ is a fine example of the very hyperactive agency detection Barrett himself describes, and is therefore highly suspect.

贾斯汀·巴雷特（Justin Barrett，2004年，2012年）强烈主张宗教信仰“几乎是不可避免的”，以至于可以引起正当的关注（舒克，2017年；斯特雷尔尼，2018年），尤其是因为他声称无神论是一种不自然的障碍（2012年，第203页）。在本文中，我认为，对智人的宗教信仰并非不可避免–巴雷特在推崇时确实同意。我描述了一种多动机构检测设备（HADD）在产生对上帝的信仰中的必要作用，但不足以解释宗教文化–我与HADD的一些常见概念相距甚远而我对此的看法是非正统的。我指出，巴雷特（2004）这本书的结论是“为什么有人会相信上帝？” 这是Barrett本人描述的非常活跃的代理检测的一个很好的例子，因此非常值得怀疑。