Isn't it bizarre humans still believe in God? (Christ, choice, America)
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"Life after death" would probably be the first answer on Family Feud. That's the ace religion holds.
But for many of us who do believe in God, or that which we call God, it's a sense that there is something that connects us all, something beyond that which we can see and feel and touch. Religion is nothing more than an attempt to explain that sense and/or a path to follow to try to reach it. It's not an "emotion" or "just what you were taught", as is too often the dismissive response. The belief is actually devoid of emotion, just as I feel no emotion about air.
Trust me, I am certainly not here to try to persuade atheists to believe. Atheism is the logical, default position of a rational human mind, and I will sit and have a beer with an atheist any day over someone who thinks they have it all figured out.
I am just answering the question.
I'd have beer with you MightyQueen .
I don't think any of us have it all figured out though.
Also I'm not convinced that atheism is necessarily the default position either. I don't know the answer to that. As Carl Sagan once said: "the size and the age of the universe are beyond ordinary human understanding". It's a big Universe out there. I think it may be kind of natural for some people to believe that there is something bigger than ourselves. Or maybe it's just the human brain's way of finding a way to cope with the vastness of it all. I don't know.
Two is people use it to make sense of things they don't understand.
Three is that religion is an evolutionary advantage. Groups of humans that had religion could control the massess better because they thought they had to obey the religious laws to have an afterlife. Religion is also a great motivator. People who fight in the name of Islam will die for their religions and fight viciously. So our brains just evolved to believe it.
And four, I think its just tradition for many people. People teach their kids what they believe and parents who believe in gods will teach it to their kids just by nature.
Very few parents will say 'these are my beliefs but when you grow up and explore the world, you decide for yourself what you want to believe'.
People naturally raise their children to do things they way they do them.
For instance, I was not raised with religion. So I never felt like I had to be. Not raising my child with religion either.
This just boggles my mind how such a large percentage of the population goes to church to worship a God that doesn't exist and shows absolutely no signs of existing. Its just so primitive. Realistically it seems like once humans became smart enough to build things, have reasoning skills, write, speak, create civilizations, we would have reached the level of intelligence to realize there is no God. I just don't get it.
I think humans have a natural tendency to accept supernatural explanations for things they don't understand. That has to be how religion got started in the first place. Today, it's a combination of the natural human tendency to do this and the fact that religion is so ingrained in our culture. A lot of people are afraid to question religion due to not only societal response but also the fact that doing so may cause a rift between the person and their family and friends. If you question the power and goodness of "almighty God" you are deemed a threat. People build their lives around their religion and it's very difficult to break away from it. It's really amazing how tribal humans are, even today. We haven't progressed as much as a species as many people like to think.
My guess is there are far more closet atheists than most people realize, with many of them filling church pews because they aren't bold enough to question it and face the backlash.
I tend to see that as possibly a false correlation. people who are more or less smart or more or less educated, can believe in the god -claims or the religion -claims, or not.
People who are very smart can also believe or disbelieve. But I am convinced that a smart person will dis-believe on the evidence, and the smart person will believe - and continue to believe -only by selecting, misusing or ignoring the evidence.
People fear death and non-existence. Religion provides a way to cheat death and live forever, at least in the minds of the adherents.
For example: in conservative Christianity, death is considered to be God's punishment for sin. The human sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is said to appease the wrath of God, remove the curse of death, and thus make immortality available to humans.
I tend to see that as possibly a false correlation. people who are more or less smart or more or less educated, can believe in the god -claims or the religion -claims, or not.
People who are very smart can also believe or disbelieve. But I am convinced that a smart person will dis-believe on the evidence, and the smart person will believe - and continue to believe -only by selecting, misusing or ignoring the evidence.
Perhaps it is a matter of compartmentalized intelligence. That someone is very good at language skills, does not mean that this person may also be a math whiz or a chess grand master.
I have the examples of myself and many people that I have known. I'm pretty darn good in certain areas and rather embarrassingly hopeless at others. I've only known a few people who seemed well rounded at most things, and no one who was excellent at everything.
Further, who knows to what degree our intelligence is influenced or overcome by our emotions?
t isn't a question of intelligence. It is a question of information.
Neither, it is a question of emotions.
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