(March 16, 2009 at 1:51 am)athoughtfulman Wrote: So it would seem. I believe that makes much more sense than any other explanation, if there even is one. It just doesn't seem realistic to me to think that so many people around the world are delusional. Sure, some of them, maybe even most of them. But all of them?
Because personal experience is not evidence of the supernatural.
in The God Delusion Dawkins speaks of the incident when reportedly over 70,000 people claimed to see the sun crash to the earth in Portugal, Fatmima. Did it really happen? Did the sun really crash to the earth? No.
The ubiquity of belief in God is not a fraction of evidence.
If anything it is an indication of our mind as evolved apes I think - albeit 'higher' apes. We are not perfect in our beliefs - certainly not. There are many people who believe superstitious things and religion, belief in God - is a common one. We are not perfect - and I believe even if in the future religion begins to decrease there will always be superstitious people and people with delusional beliefs, whether its still belief in some form of God or some future equivalent. Although I believe a belief in a supernatural 'being', or 'Father' or 'Mother'...a 'God' is a very common delusional belief to have because of the evolved psychological make-up, the psyche, we are born with.
If the whole world believed in the FSM...about 6 billion people...would that mean the FSM was more likely to exist? I think not!!
EvF
P.S: @ Kyu....A future pill that you can take and it will give you a religious experience? Haven't we already got them? They've called hallucinogens aren't they?
Reading the bible while listening to religious music and then watching religious videos and God TV...followed by a hallucinogen, wouldn't that do the trick?
All you'd need was a harmless and legal version wouldn't you? Although it depends how strikingly intense and 'hypnotically believable' the hallucinations are doesn't it? If the answer is VERY or VERY very, or extremely then I bet that could lead to complications anyway!
