(April 23, 2011 at 6:19 am)Garmston Ansell Wrote: I think perhaps brain chemistry may play a part although I also think sometimes it's just a matter of simply believing that it's likely that there's a god, or rejecting the notion, or in my case neither believing nor rejecting it. Do you think brain chemistry has anything to do with religious belief?
Brain Chemistry plays a part in a lot of it, we didn't evolve to be reason and logic orientated, being a critical thinker is somewhat "unnatural" and you don't just expect to be one, you have to work at it - A big part of that is trying to determine what biases we have as a result of that brain chemistry or culture etc and looking at ways to compensate for it - If you want specific neurological foundations for religious belief you shouldn't be looking for a single thing, but a number of things that could contribute, predator detection and Pareidolia are definitely two of them.
If you do not believe someone when they say "God exists" then you have rejected their claim, the only alternative is to accept it, which you have not - This is not the same thing as ruling it out, it is simply a tentative conclusion that can change based on new argument and evidence, at this point in time you see no reason to believe it is true, or not enough reason to believe it yourself, that is a rejection of the potion, you are an Agnostic Atheist.
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