Is belief in God a natural instinct ?

[mr.atheist]

I just happened to catch this on Channel 4 (those in the UK will be familiar with the channel)

http://www.4thought.tv/themes/is-belief-...oplay=true

So I watched it and I disagree with it,I also watched a couple of others regarding the subject.

http://www.4thought.tv/themes/is-belief-...oplay=true

http://www.4thought.tv/themes/is-belief-...oplay=true


So what do you guys think total bull shit or is it true?

[Something completely different]

nature + god .............. does not compute!

[mr.atheist]

nature + god .............. does not compute!

Thats exactly what I was thinking or along those lines.It has to do with how your brought up and your social environment some people are brought without ever been brought into religion,not to mention the fact which god are we talking here and how many gods?

[The Grand Nudger]

Anthropomorphism does appear to be instinctual, yes. The level that this instinct is developed into something like a religious system complete with a "god" appears to be something much more elaborate and varied. The man on the moon, for example, may not be a god, but he's a step between the moon and a god.

"This car is trying to kill me"
"The sun wont cooperate today"
"The fish are laughing at us down there"
"The mountains called to me"
etc etc etc

One of the more glaringly obvious explanations for this behavior might have something to do with how important interpreting the intentions of others is to us...or , how we -as human beings- conceptualize things in a way that is particular to human beings....because we are using ourselves as a frame of reference. It's a short trip from a sun that doesn't cooperate to a sun that does...a sun that you are grateful toward...and how do we express our gratitude? We give gifts, we form bonds, we express solidarity and kinship. We are "faithful". If we didn't have so many competing instinctual behaviors (and all other "things") I could easily imagine a world in which we all worshiped the sun. Amusingly, at some point...most of "us" have. On the other hand, this behavior itself can be counterproductive to itself. That we have a decided bent towards it is undeniable..but how do we choose what we impose our own motivations upon..and in a disagreement between an uncooperative sun and a murderous car...who are we to side with (or who's representative..more elaborately)? No worries..we seem to have instincts for handling that decision as well....

[mr.atheist]

Anthropomorphism does appear to be instinctual, yes. The level that this instinct is developed into something like a religious system complete with a "god" appears to be something much more elaborate and varied. The man on the moon, for example, may not be a god, but he's a step between the moon and a god.

"This car is trying to kill me"
"The sun wont cooperate today"
"The fish are laughing at us down there"
"The mountains called to me"
etc etc etc

One of the more glaringly obvious explanations for this behavior might have something to do with how important interpreting the intentions of others is to us...or , how we -as human beings- conceptualize things in a way that is particular to human beings....because we are using ourselves as a frame of reference. It's a short trip from a sun that doesn't cooperate to a sun that does...a sun that you are grateful toward...and how do we express our gratitude? We give gifts, we form bonds, we express solidarity and kinship. We are "faithful". If we didn't have so many competing instinctual behaviors (and all other "things") I could easily imagine a world in which we all worshiped the sun. Amusingly, at some point...most of "us" have. On the other hand, this behavior itself can be counterproductive to itself. That we have a decided bent towards it is undeniable..but how do we choose what we impose our own motivations upon..and in a disagreement between an uncooperative sun and a murderous car...who are we to side with (or who's representative..more elaborately)? No worries..we seem to have instincts for handling that decision as well....

So your saying that anthropomorphism is part of instinct but the sole belief in a god is not but it is merely included as an example of it.
Is that correct?

[Brian37]

I just happened to catch this on Channel 4 (those in the UK will be familiar with the channel)

http://www.4thought.tv/themes/is-belief-...oplay=true

So I watched it and I disagree with it,I also watched a couple of others regarding the subject.

http://www.4thought.tv/themes/is-belief-...oplay=true

http://www.4thought.tv/themes/is-belief-...oplay=true


So what do you guys think total bull shit or is it true?

Belief in god IS a natural instinct like Dawkins discribes it as a missfire that causes the moth to confuse a lightbulb for moonlight. Read the God Delusion.

It is like saying shitting is natural. But it does not mean you can turn shit into a god, just because you can use cow dung to firtilize a crop. If all it took was wishful thinking to fill in gaps then I am married to Anjolina Jolie.

We are pattern seeking as a species. That is the natural part. However it is also natural for us to fill gaps and fool ourselves. We've dreamed up all sorts of superstions that most dont belive in now.

It is like an antilope on the African plain. It can confuse grass moving for a lion stalking it when it is merely wind. But it can also confuse wind as being a lion moving the grass and run into a lion's den because of it's bad guess.

[The Grand Nudger]

Essentially, yeah. I'd elaborate that the anthropomorphic tendencies we can demonstrate within our species are themselves the results of predictable biases imposed by our biology. Not just the wiring, but the hardware as well..sort of thing. That's my understanding of the situation, buyer beware..lol.
(Thoughts themselves don't seem to be heritable -a side requirement for something instinctual btw-...but the way in which we gather and process information is).

[mr.atheist]

I just happened to catch this on Channel 4 (those in the UK will be familiar with the channel)

http://www.4thought.tv/themes/is-belief-...oplay=true

So I watched it and I disagree with it,I also watched a couple of others regarding the subject.

http://www.4thought.tv/themes/is-belief-...oplay=true

http://www.4thought.tv/themes/is-belief-...oplay=true


So what do you guys think total bull shit or is it true?

Belief in god IS a natural instinct like Dawkins discribes it as a missfire that causes the moth to confuse a lightbulb for moonlight. Read the God Delusion.

It is like saying shitting is natural. But it does not mean you can turn shit into a god, just because you can use cow dung to firtilize a crop. If all it took was wishful thinking to fill in gaps then I am married to Anjolina Jolie.

We are pattern seeking as a species. That is the natural part. However it is also natural for us to fill gaps and fool ourselves. We've dreamed up all sorts of superstions that most dont belive in now.

It is like an antilope on the African plain. It can confuse grass moving for a lion stalking it when it is merely wind. But it can also confuse wind as being a lion moving the grass and run into a lion's den because of it's bad guess.

So you are saying we are susceptible into believing in things ?
As I agree with that

[Minimalist]

Is belief in God a natural instinct ?

After careful observation of most of the theists who show up around here I am convinced that believing in fairy tales is about the best that any of them can do.

[Angrboda]

J. Anderson Thompson has a slide in his powerpoint presentation that says that children spontaneously invent the notion of God, or words to that effect, and I've even been accused of propagating a lie from posting that slide on an atheist forum. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten around to tracking down the reference and checking it out to validate whether that's an accurate result from the psychological research or not. However, for an atheist to believe that God-belief isn't natural in the absence, or in the teeth of evidence that it is, is just as much wishful thinking as a theist wanting to believe that it is true without credible evidence to support that belief.

I guess now I'm going to have to run down that source. Oh bother.

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Whoop. Looking for that slide, I came across the following.

(WARNING!!: SHAMELESS DARWIN MOMENT!!1!)

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