nature + god .............. does not compute!

(November 18, 2012 at 4:30 pm)The_Germans_are_coming Wrote: nature + god .............. does not compute!

Thats exactly what I was thinking or along those lines.It has to do with how your brought up and your social environment some people are brought without ever been brought into religion,not to mention the fact which god are we talking here and how many gods?

Anthropomorphism does appear to be instinctual, yes. The level that this instinct is developed into something like a religious system complete with a "god" appears to be something much more elaborate and varied. The man on the moon, for example, may not be a god, but he's a step between the moon and a god.

"This car is trying to kill me"
"The sun wont cooperate today"
"The fish are laughing at us down there"
"The mountains called to me"
etc etc etc

One of the more glaringly obvious explanations for this behavior might have something to do with how important interpreting the intentions of others is to us...or , how we -as human beings- conceptualize things in a way that is particular to human beings....because we are using ourselves as a frame of reference. It's a short trip from a sun that doesn't cooperate to a sun that does...a sun that you are grateful toward...and how do we express our gratitude? We give gifts, we form bonds, we express solidarity and kinship. We are "faithful". If we didn't have so many competing instinctual behaviors (and all other "things") I could easily imagine a world in which we all worshiped the sun. Amusingly, at some point...most of "us" have. On the other hand, this behavior itself can be counterproductive to itself. That we have a decided bent towards it is undeniable..but how do we choose what we impose our own motivations upon..and in a disagreement between an uncooperative sun and a murderous car...who are we to side with (or who's representative..more elaborately)? No worries..we seem to have instincts for handling that decision as well....

(November 18, 2012 at 4:41 pm)Rhythm Wrote: Anthropomorphism does appear to be instinctual, yes. The level that this instinct is developed into something like a religious system complete with a "god" appears to be something much more elaborate and varied. The man on the moon, for example, may not be a god, but he's a step between the moon and a god.

"This car is trying to kill me"
"The sun wont cooperate today"
"The fish are laughing at us down there"
"The mountains called to me"
etc etc etc

One of the more glaringly obvious explanations for this behavior might have something to do with how important interpreting the intentions of others is to us...or , how we -as human beings- conceptualize things in a way that is particular to human beings....because we are using ourselves as a frame of reference. It's a short trip from a sun that doesn't cooperate to a sun that does...a sun that you are grateful toward...and how do we express our gratitude? We give gifts, we form bonds, we express solidarity and kinship. We are "faithful". If we didn't have so many competing instinctual behaviors (and all other "things") I could easily imagine a world in which we all worshiped the sun. Amusingly, at some point...most of "us" have. On the other hand, this behavior itself can be counterproductive to itself. That we have a decided bent towards it is undeniable..but how do we choose what we impose our own motivations upon..and in a disagreement between an uncooperative sun and a murderous car...who are we to side with (or who's representative..more elaborately)? No worries..we seem to have instincts for handling that decision as well....

So your saying that anthropomorphism is part of instinct but the sole belief in a god is not but it is merely included as an example of it.
Is that correct?

Essentially, yeah. I'd elaborate that the anthropomorphic tendencies we can demonstrate within our species are themselves the results of predictable biases imposed by our biology. Not just the wiring, but the hardware as well..sort of thing. That's my understanding of the situation, buyer beware..lol.
(Thoughts themselves don't seem to be heritable -a side requirement for something instinctual btw-...but the way in which we gather and process information is).

Is belief in God a natural instinct ?

After careful observation of most of the theists who show up around here I am convinced that believing in fairy tales is about the best that any of them can do.