"We've evolved to be creationists"

[coberst]

“We’ve evolved to be creationists”

“We’ve evolved to be creationists” is a quote from the “The Atlantic Monthly” article “Is God an Accident?”—December 2005 issue.

Paul Bloom, author of the article, informs us that “human beings come into the world with a predisposition to believe in supernatural phenomena…this predisposition is an incidental by-product of cognitive functioning gone awry”.

Paul Bloom informs us that nearly everyone on earth believes in miracles, afterlife, and the creation of the earth by some supernatural power. While doing research into infant behavior, psychologists have recently discovered that humans are born with a predisposition to believe in some supernatural actuality. These scientists conclude that this predisposition is a random happenstance of cognitive functioning gone awry. These conclusions led to the question “Is God an Accident?”--the title of the article.

I have just found the answer to a question that has baffled me for years. Why do non-believers love to talk religion? Perhaps talking about religion is much like ‘whistling past the cemetery’.

Everyone loves to talk religion because we are all born with the “gut feeling” that there is a body/mind duality. Because we “feel” that mind is a “spiritual” entity we easily accommodate heaven, soul, god etc.

Science says that this gut feeling is a result of “cognitive functioning gone awry” and religion tells us that this is a matter of faith. What do you think?

[-paexaea-]

Re: "We've evolved to be creationists"

To me, I was raised believing that there was God, Jesus died on the cross for our sins, yada yada yada. I believe if I wasn't raised in a Christian backround, I really wouldn't have cared for religion. All it does it cause war and controversy everywhere it goes. It all goes back to two children fighting over something. "No, this is my toy and this is why I should have it." "No, it's mine! This is why I should have it." Figuratively speaking, of course.

In the wise words of Tom Eggleston: "Religion -- giving people something to do, and annoying the rest of us."

[Afrobean]

Re: "We've evolved to be creationists"

I don't believe that humans are naturally disposed to believe in intelligent design specifically, but I will buy the supernatural phenomena aspect. Personally, I was brought up completely without religion, and for the longest time, I never even knew that anyone really believed that stuff with such vigor.

ps atheists like to talk religion because we don't understand why anyone can put so much stock in feelings without scientific observation and things written 1500+ years ago.

[-paexaea-]

Re: "We've evolved to be creationists"

Honestly, when I hear Christian radicals, they try to stuff "God this and God that" down my throat. It's all a bunch of false hope to me. When we die, what happens if there is no Heaven or Hell? I'm no Atheist, but religion, in general, sounds like a hoax. If there was a way I could be in no religion whatsoever, not giving myself a label of course, and just live my life, I'd be fine.

[Cavernio]

Re: "We've evolved to be creationists"

ps atheists like to talk religion because we don't understand why anyone can put so much stock in feelings without scientific observation

Have you ever fallen in lust or in love? Where's the scientific observation that the object of your desires is anything like your ideal person? Think of someone you used to like, but now don't; doesn't it seem like that person's just another, ordinary person now? My point is that when people fall in love with someone else, there's often not much 'scientific' about your feelings, and through this, I think you should be able to at least partially understand why people put so much in feelings, despite a lack of science. The truly faithful are in love with God.

Anyways, back on topic.
I've certainly heard before that people are designed to have some sort of belief in supernatural entities, but I've actually never yet heard the stipulation that it's a by-product of evolution, but rather something very purposeful. Despite all the negative that happens from religion in our current time, mainly war, there are benefits to religion. It offers an amazing feeling of mysticism, a belief of everlasting life in some form or another and a way of connecting on an emotional level with other people. Again, anyone who IS religious will be able to tell you the benefits of their belief. It imbues people with a sense of purpose, and unlike not-so-cognizant animals, we actually know and care if there is no purpose. I don't think unintelligent beings can get depressed, and that people can, it makes sense that there be something which prevents that, or else humans wouldn't be around today because they'd have stopped trying to live.
With this is mind, there's still no specific religion ingrained in our heads. People have developed that on their own based on feelings and thoughts which seem to have an actual genetic component. That religion has developed into such specifics as we have today seems like it was simply a way of sharing the beliefs and feelings with others. Ceremonies are still around today, and they're a way of conveying meaning across many people, connecting them for a few moments of their lives with each other.

[coberst]

Re: "We've evolved to be creationists"

When written history began five thousand years ago humans had already developed a great deal of knowledge. Much of that knowledge was of a very practical nature such as how to use animal skins for clothing, how to weave wool, how to hunt and fish etc. A large part of human knowledge was directed toward how to kill and torture fellow humans. I guess things never really change all that much.

In several parts of the world civilizations developed wherein people learned to create laws and to rule vast numbers of people. Some measure of peace and stability developed but there was yet no means for securing the people from their rulers. I guess things never really change all that much

Almost everywhere priests joined rulers in attempts to control the population. Despite these continual wars both of external and internal nature the human population managed to flourish. Egypt was probably one of the first long lasting and stable civilizations to grow up along the large rivers. Egypt survived almost unchanged for three thousand years. This success is attributed to its geographical location that gave it freedom from competition and fertile lands that were constantly replenished by the river overflowing its banks and thus depositing new fertile soil for farming.

Western philosophy emerged in the sixth century BC along the Ionian coast. A small group of scientist-philosophers began writing about their attempts to develop “rational” accounts regarding human experience. These early Pre-Socratic thinkers thought that they were dealing with fundamental elements of nature.

It is natural for humans to seek knowledge. In the “Metaphysics” Aristotle wrote “All men by nature desire to know”.

The attempt to seek knowledge presupposes that the world unfolds in a systematic pattern and that we can gain knowledge of that unfolding. Cognitive science identifies several ideas that seem to come naturally to us and labels such ideas as “Folk Theories”.

The Folk Theory of the Intelligibility of the World
The world makes systematic sense, and we can gain knowledge of it.

The Folk Theory of General Kinds
Every particular thing is a kind of thing.

The Folk Theory of Essences
Every entity has an “essence” or “nature,” that is, a collection of properties that makes it the kind of thing it is and that is the causal source of its natural behavior.

The consequences of the two theories of kinds and essences is:

The Foundational Assumption of Metaphysics
Kinds exist and are defined by essences.

We may not want our friends to know this fact but we are all metaphysicians. We, in fact, assume that things have a nature thereby we are led by the metaphysical impulse to seek knowledge at various levels of reality.

Cognitive science has uncovered these ideas they have labeled as Folk Theories. Such theories when compared to sophisticated philosophical theories are like comparing mountain music with classical music. Such theories seem to come naturally to human consciousness.

The information comes primarily from “Philosophy in the Flesh” and http://www.wku.edu/~jan.garrett/302/folkmeta.htm

[Afrobean]

Re: "We've evolved to be creationists"

Comparing love and lust to religion... rofl

Without the concept of God instilled in you, would you come up with it on your own? Imagine an atheist utopia in which the word "god" doesn't even exist. Imagine a world in which society developed without the Greek and Egyptian gods of folklore. Imagine a world in which there was no Jesus and Islam and Judaism never came to be. Would you look at the world and think "wow someone must have created this world through some sort of power over the very essence of reality, even though there is no absolute physical evidence to indicate it" or would you think "well, the world may not fully explained with science right now, but the explanations given so far are satisfactory and it's even nicer, because nothing is explained away without observable evidence."

Without the concept of love/lust instilled in you, would you still understand that you desired this person in a sexual manner? Perhaps not, but you'd probably figure out where to stick your penis very quickly.

So there's the question: Where are you gonna stick your penis when it comes to the concept of God? Ok, maybe that particular aspect of the analogue isn't entirely relevant... I just wanted to say that.

[trillobyite]

Re: "We've evolved to be creationists"

psychologists have recently discovered that humans are born with a predisposition to believe in some supernatural actuality.

Do you have a link or study that you can show us? I've always felt as though religious tendencies begin with parental influence, or societal influence. Maybe we have a predisposition to believe in supernatural actuality once those ideas are introduced, but does it start as soon as we can consciously think, as these psychologists say?
I was raised with an extremely, ultra fundementalist upbringing, and I've become less religious over time, but I'm definitely not an atheist, or an agnostic.

[Cavernio]

Re: "We've evolved to be creationists"

So there's the question: Where are you gonna stick your penis when it comes to the concept of God?

Hey, you could still masturbate to the Glory of God :-p

What you're suggesting me to imagine I don't think is possible. The specifics of it, yes, it's possible, but the aboluteness of no imagination as to an all-powerful something no.
If I had no one tell me about love or lust, yes, I would still figure out what to hump. And no, if no one taught me about specific religion, no, I wouldn't know what to believe. However, what's being suggested here and what's been suggested to me from a prof once, is that there is an innateness to the concept of something more than yourself, of soul or spirit, of connectedness with the world. Mysticism might be the best word to describe it. That's the part I'm comparing to love and lust.

Neither you or cobherst is going back quite far enough into evolutionary history. If such a feeling were ingrained in our genes, it would probably have happened looooong before written history, possibly even when humans weren't even humans yet. I definitely wouldn't be thinking "well, the world may not fully explained with science right now, but the explanations given so far are satisfactory and it's even nicer, because nothing is explained away without observable evidence." at such a point in time. I'd probably be self-examining my own emerging conciousness and be completely awed about the world around me and feel like worshiping. Since it also seems that people are predispositioned to want to live and share themselves with other people, it makes sense that they'd like to share awe with someone else also, and organized religion could be a starting of that. Don't tell me you've never had a moment of zen where you stop and look around you and are baffled about existence. It's that feeling specifically which I would say is innate.

You say that science is more innate than religion. That makes sense in our current society. We reap and see the benefits of science every single day. We're seriously innondated in it. If you were instead innondated with birds, trees, grass, insects, wind and sun, although the concept of what you see is what there is would still be there, there'd still be a feeling of awe, and one which would probably be much stronger because you would have yet to see how nature can be controlled and understood, as we have in today's society.

[coberst]

Re: "We've evolved to be creationists"

Do you have a link or study that you can show us? I've always felt as though religious tendencies begin with parental influence, or societal influence. Maybe we have a predisposition to believe in supernatural actuality once those ideas are introduced, but does it start as soon as we can consciously think, as these psychologists say?
I was raised with an extremely, ultra fundementalist upbringing, and I've become less religious over time, but I'm definitely not an atheist, or an agnostic.

I think that you must subscribe to the magazine to see the article. You might try a google search.

[tsugomaru]

Re: "We've evolved to be creationists"

A large part of human knowledge was directed toward how to kill and torture fellow humans.

You're right. An experiment was done on human college students. The group was divided into two, the prisoners and the prison guards; they were to assume their role as best as possible. There were no rules. The prisoners tried to escape, but they failed and the prison guards would use inhuman ways to torture the prisoners. After just four days, the project had to be canceled.

The same experiment was done twenty years later and in the same amount of time, the project had to be canceled for the same reason.

~Tsugomaru

[Maid]

Re: "We've evolved to be creationists"

You're right. An experiment was done on human college students. The group was divided into two, the prisoners and the prison guards; they were to assume their role as best as possible. There were no rules. The prisoners tried to escape, but they failed and the prison guards would use inhuman ways to torture the prisoners. After just four days, the project had to be canceled.

The same experiment was done twenty years later and in the same amount of time, the project had to be canceled for the same reason.

~Tsugomaru

It is human nature, we'd be totally different species if we didn't possess that trait.

[Master_of_the_Faster]

Re: "We've evolved to be creationists"

Honestly, if religion wasn't created in the older times, what would we be thinking today? I mean what if we didn't know what the word god meant to people today? Would that be a problem or do you guys think the world might be better off?

[seltivo]

Re: "We've evolved to be creationists"

I believe that humans are born with a predisposition to believe in some supernatural actuality. Take christmas for example, little children believe that Santa somehow manages to fly to every single house (excluding, of course, those who don't celebrate christmas), break in without anyone noticing, eat millions of cokies, give them all presents, and fly back to the north pole, all in under 24 hours, despite the fact that there is a much simpler (and possible) explanation.

on another note, I remember when i found out Santa didn't exist. I was so sad, I'd rather still blindly believe in him than know the truth, it makes life so much easier...

Anyhow, I think the same concept aplies to religon. Even if it's not true (I'm still not shure yet), it's a wonderfull thing that only causes trouble when those who believe differently try to convince those who do (and vis-versa)

[Master_of_the_Faster]

Re: "We've evolved to be creationists"

Anyhow, I think the same concept aplies to religon. Even if it's not true (I'm still not shure yet), it's a wonderfull thing that only causes trouble when those who believe differently try to convince those who do (and vis-versa)

The problem is that we know that there is no real Santa Clause that flys with deer (that I know of or that anyone has scientifical proven to see), but religion has a chance to both be right and wrong. Religion goes to a whole new level and some people use the advantage of not really knowing something to convince people that something is "normal" to them and to force it on others. After all, 9/11 is one of those big incidents that occured because of religious thoughts. I don't think that a person would bomb a plane into the north pole just because of Santa Clause.