Scientists and Belief - More Up To Date Survey

[Confused Ape]

73% of philosophers are or lean toward atheism, a further 13% are other non-theistic positions, leaving only 14% of philosophers as some kind of theist.

Does that mean philosophy turns most philosophers into atheists or that it attracts more atheists than believers?

And actually, there are very good looks into why our species has religious beliefs. Two books I'd recommend on this are cognitive scientist and philosopher of mind Daniel Dennett's "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon" and science historian and psychologist Michael Shermer's "The Believing Brain". There's probably some good stuff from anthropology as well, I'm just not familiar with it.

There's also that branch of neuroscience labelled neurotheology which I find particularly interesting. I have the kind of brain which produces odd, subjective experiences and I wonder why so many human brains do this.

Eastern mysticism seems to be related to the experiences of this neuroanatomist who explains what happened when she had a stroke.





It doesn't explain the results of the American Association for the Advancement of Science survey, though. Why do chemists who believe in God outnumber physicists and astronomers who believe in God? It also doesn't explain why there's an equal percentage in these fields when it comes to belief in a universal spirit or higher power.