We are born to believe in God

[BURNING MAN]

ATHEISM really may be fighting against nature: humans have been hardwired by evolution to believe in God, scientists have suggested.

The idea has emerged from studies of the way children’s brains develop and of the workings of the brain during religious experiences. They suggest that during evolution groups of humans with religious tendencies began to benefit from their beliefs, perhaps because they tended to work together better and so stood a greater chance of survival.

The findings challenge campaigners against organised religion, such as Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion. He has long argued that religious beliefs result from poor education and childhood “indoctrination”.

Bruce Hood, professor of developmental psychology at Bristol University, believes the picture is more complex. “Our research shows children have a natural, intuitive way of reasoning that leads them to all kinds of supernatural beliefs about how the world works,” he said.

Hood, who will present his findings at the British Science Association’s annual meeting this week, sees organised religion as just part of a spectrum of supernatural beliefs.

In one study he found even ardent atheists balked at the idea of accepting an organ transplant from a murderer, because of a superstitious belief that an individual’s personality could be stored in their organs. “This shows how superstition is hardwired into our brains,” he said.

His work is supported by other researchers who have found evidence linking religious feelings and experience to particular regions of the brain. They suggest people are programmed to get a feeling of spirituality from what is nothing more than electrical activity in these regions.

Andrew Newberg, professor of radiology at the University of Pennsylvania, has used brain-imaging techniques to show that such feelings are invoked by activity in “belief networks” operating across the brain. This supersedes the earlier concept of a “God spot”, activated during meditation or prayer.

“The temporal lobe interacts with many other parts of the brain to provide the full range of religious and spiritual experiences,” he said.

LINK

[BURNING MAN]

We are born to believe the bullshit that consumes this world... Is that what the article is trying to say?

[$$kneel-B4-me$$]

i like oreo's and milk. yum! I think i'll have some right now. thats all i got to say about that. jenn..ey do we have any oreo's and milk?

[BURNING MAN]

Do you dunk them into the milk?... I nuke mine for a few seconds.

[kidflash2008]

What about us lowly Pagans?

What a choice: materialistic atheists or Fundamentalist Christians.

[BURNING MAN]

Materialistic?????..... I don't even have a bank account or credit cards. But I do own a nice piece of land right beside a Church, a Church that my father built with his own finances.

Kidflash - Are you a polytheistic Pagan? I have a strong connection with Zeus, the king of the Gods and the God of the sky and thunder.

[$$kneel-B4-me$$]

i just dunk my oreos in pagan tears. the taste is unbelievable, almost forbidden, with a hint of blasphemy. lol, j/k kidflash. burningman..i had that cinnimon strudle they give out with the pizza from PaPa Johns, and i think zeus took control of my ass. i know i heard thunder and i think i felt lightning. I recommend you all to try it. it truely is quite the religious experiance. With all the standing and sitting i did, i felt muslim.

[kidflash2008]

Yes, I am a polytheistic Pagan, although I am in tune with the Mother Goddess.

[vr_don]

LOL. I think all that food can give you a religious experience. But I often get asked about my scent. Well, it's Nadler, the only cologne endorsed by 300-pound liberal Congressman Jerry Nadler-- a delicate yet sultry blend of cinnamon, pheromones and pork-chops.

[BURNING MAN]

Originally Posted by $$kneel-B4-me$$

burningman..i had that cinnimon strudle they give out with the pizza from PaPa Johns, and i think zeus took control of my ass. i know i heard thunder and i think i felt lightning. I recommend you all to try it. it truely is quite the religious experiance. With all the standing and sitting i did, i felt muslim.

If you heard thunder you definitely would have experienced lightning. Just before you heard the thunderous clap, did you experience a slight dizziness? That would be the lightning.