(June 4, 2010 at 3:42 am)The_Flying_Skeptic Wrote: "Is it because they are weak and cannot take reality?"A chemical imbalance in the brain can be treated-as in the case of depression.
nobody likes the idea of death and in a way religion solves that problem for them with heaven. I guess in the sense that they don't accept death as an end of consciousness as we do may be reason to consider them weak.
"Is it a chemical imbalance in their brains (or in ours)?"
I like that you added 'or in ours' because we are the minority unless you live in the UK.
"Is it genetic?"
I thought genetics and chemical imbalances were intertwined since genetics produces the chemical imbalance. I hope atheism isn't particularly genetic because that would mean that the only way for our idea to spread would be for us to reproduce more. Have you seen the movie Idiocracy? I think more and more people are converting to atheism now more than ever because of the availability of human knowledge on the internet that has only been around for 20 years disproving the hypothesis that atheism is particularly genetic.
"Are Atheists the next step in evolution?"
Your question here is based on a misunderstanding of evolutionary biology which is treating evolution like a linear process. I know the first thing anyone sees when studying evolution is the picture of a monkey gradually turning into a human but that's a linear view of evolution which doesn't represent evolutionary biology at all. Anyhow, with all the gene flow and no selective pressures in the human population, I don't see evolution being apparent any time soon.
I ask about evolution because humans evolved with a need for religion I think, so why do so many of us not need to believe? In my case I guess I would love to believe in God but I just cant. I was brought up a catholic and turned away from it all in my late teens.
