(January 6, 2015 at 10:38 am)robvalue Wrote: Evolution producing a desire to believe in a creationist God is weird huh. Likes its trying to cover its tracks.
Evolution doesn't produce a desire to believe in a god, just to have some kind of system of belief. The 'creation' of gods is a different function (but not unlinked), it's very similar to the spontaneous creation of supernatural, anthropomorphic causes for natural phenomenon often found in children, such as the man in the moon, the monster under the bed, the bogey-man outside the window, etc. it comes from the same psychological process, i.e. god is the supernatural, anthropomorphic cause of everything.
This is an artefact of our developmental psychology, in particular the area of developmental causal reasoning.
We usually grow out of it.
MM
"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions" - Leonardo da Vinci
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
