Hmm..

an interesting concept. I believe it. How else do we justify where we came from? Sure, the big bang, or whatever you wish to believe, but who put that orb there? It stands to reason that as a young child, we would say "God did that." As we grow older, we abandon our childhood questions and begin to think about life in general. Purpose. Why we're here. Again, God comes into play. We think to ourselves "we must have been put here by a divine creator for a higher purpose." Then we question this divine creator. "God does not exist," we say, after weighing the evidence, and we may be right. This is the point I am at, and have no idea whether God exists or not.
Now I'm rambling.

No. I believe that humans are naturally wired to believe whatever they are told. I was always told there is no God. I believe that. My friends who were told that Catholicism is the one true religion are Catholic. My friends raised Jewish are Jewish. We, for the most part, believe what we are raised to believe.

I think that belief in 'something else' comes naturally for a lot of people, but not necessarily 'hward-wired' into every brain. I never believed in God, even as a bebeh.

hard-wired**

Hmmmm Well gotta beileve in something but idk....

I have just always thought people need to believe in something, if they don't then lifes just full of unanswered questions, and no greater being who watches over us and gives a reason for what occurs in life.

On Tuesday 2/10/09 - 4:14:58 AM Crying_Shame wrote: I have just always thought people need to believe in something, if they don't then lifes just full of unanswered questions, and no greater being who watches over us and gives a reason for what occurs in life.

But why should we bother ourselves over questions that can't be answered when we have lives to live?

On Tuesday 2/10/09 - 7:58:54 AM Wubba D wrote: But why should we bother ourselves over questions that can't be answered when we have lives to live?

Precisely; suggestions that religion exists to answer questions and comfort us aren't convincing. There are plenty of religions that aren't at all comforting, and religions generally avoid addressing questions. It's worth also pointing out that the way religion is represented cognitively is very different from its "explicit" representation (eg, in theology/philosophy); for example, people cognitively treat God as an ordinary person despite explicitly stating that God is atemporal, omniscient, omnipotent etc.

In answer to the question, I'm generally more swayed by the idea that religious cognition is predominantly a by-product of standard neural processes; that said, I've not had time to read and analyse...

...the thesis in this article.

On Tuesday 2/10/09 - 12:19:35 AM pankate wrote: No. I believe that humans are naturally wired to believe whatever they are told. I was always told there is no God. I believe that. My friends who were told that Catholicism is the one true religion are Catholic. My friends raised Jewish are Jewish. We, for the most part, believe what we are raised to believe.

So how did that first person come up with the concept of God or gods, let alone make others believe it?

And don't even you think "What if? What if? What if?". I don't know if humans are naturally wired to believe in a God or gods of some sorts, but humans are naturally afraid of death, and I think the idea of there being something after that calms people down to some degree, which is how people would have come up with God or gods.

On Tuesday 2/10/09 - 9:32:47 AM Notretard wrote: And don't even you think "What if? What if? What if?". I don't know if humans are naturally wired to believe in a God or gods of some sorts, but humans are naturally afraid of death, and I think the idea of there being something after that calms people down to some degree, which is how people would have come up with God or gods.

I think religion is based in drug abuse and vivid interpretations of coincidence, illusions, dreams and the like.
I read somethink long ago about scientists finding the "God gene", and now this. I wouldn't be surprised at all if there's a physiological reason for religion.

no. i think that whether you believe in something or not comes down to different cultures.

no. not all people believe in god. not all people care about religion. not everyone needs religion.

the scientists are wrong.

Why not? If we were created in his image, then there lies the tie.

On Tuesday 2/10/09 - 2:12:07 PM DragonWisprz wrote: no. not all people believe in god. not all people care about religion. not everyone needs religion. the scientists are wrong.

Well... no. While it's true that not all people believe in God, not all people care about religion and not everyone needs religion, it's completely irrelevant to your objection. The claim by science is that our brains evolved in such a way that we have a *tendency* towards religion; it is obviously not saying that everyone actually is religious, which would be a dramatically ridiculous claim.

The fact that religion in some form is universal across all cultures (whether in contact with other cultures or not), together with evidence collected that indicates it is heritable, provides a good reason to conclude it is an evolutionary (not just culturally transmitted) phenomenon.

On Tuesday 2/10/09 - 4:23:01 PM kyry wrote: The fact that religion in some form is universal across all cultures (whether in contact with other cultures or not), together with evidence collected that indicates it is heritable, provides a good reason to conclude it is an evolutionary (not just culturally transmitted) phenomenon.

Precisely! There is also a philosophy that religion is an instinct for the human race as a whole, and that like thirst, hunger, or the need to mate, also has a counterpart- - a deity in its case, and so begins the branch we know as Deism.

On Tuesday 2/10/09 - 4:51:47 PM talkygurl13 wrote: Precisely! There is also a philosophy that religion is an instinct for the human race as a whole, and that like thirst, hunger, or the need to mate, also has a counterpart- - a deity in its case, and so begins the branch we know as Deism.

Whether or not there is a counterpart to the religious inclination is a separate (and only incidentally related) question. But either way, it's not much like thirst, hunger or sex drive (not that you're necessarily implying it is). Not sure what the connection to deism is, however...

On Tuesday 2/10/09 - 4:51:47 PM talkygurl13 wrote: Precisely! There is also a philosophy that religion is an instinct for the human race as a whole, and that like thirst, hunger, or the need to mate, also has a counterpart- - a deity in its case, and so begins the branch we know as Deism.

On Tuesday 2/10/09 - 5:01:08 PM kyry wrote: Whether or not there is a counterpart to the religious inclination is a separate (and only incidentally related) question. But either way, it's not much like thirst, hunger or sex drive (not that you're necessarily implying it is). Not sure what the connection to deism is, however...

I'm not implying any of the above. The relation to Deism is part/whole.

God's Real, we aren't born beliving it though

does the word Atheist ring a bell?

No...I don't believe in god. I'm not atheist. I guess in a way I believe in someting greater but not in anything that ordinary religions like. Definately not an entity, more of a force. So no. I don't believe this study. (and NO! not the force from star wars! just A force...)

human brains are "hard wired" to try to explain things, religion may just be one of those things

No, humans try to explain and reason their surroundings, and when they don't know how something happens or came to be, they explain it with supernatural forces that can't be comprehended by humans. Humans, by nature, are uncomfortable with the unknown, and would rather think that something uncontrollable is acting on the world around them than accept that there are phenomenon they can't explain with their present-day science and reasoning.

Example: The ancient Greeks and Romans thought lightning was made by the god Zeus/Jupiter.