Posted: Mar 17, 2010 5:22 pm
Bruce Hoods "Supersense" is worth a mention here I reckon.
The use of "some people" is something I dispute - everyone believes in "something" there are just scales of belief and disbelief and different categories. People who don't hold theist beliefs probably still prescribe to one of the following: a political ideology;moral and ethical code;believe their team/fans of their sporting team to be the best in the world; consider themselves patriotic or nationalistic/knock on wood etc etc...
There are categories and scales of superstitious belief - it's not a "need" as such rather something that happens.
Although in the case of organised religion a good case can be made that they play on peoples needs to be part of a group or socially connected to likeminded folks and use that to their advantage.
But I doubt there is anything particularly special about any given belief or subset of believers psychologically.
The use of "some people" is something I dispute - everyone believes in "something" there are just scales of belief and disbelief and different categories. People who don't hold theist beliefs probably still prescribe to one of the following: a political ideology;moral and ethical code;believe their team/fans of their sporting team to be the best in the world; consider themselves patriotic or nationalistic/knock on wood etc etc...
There are categories and scales of superstitious belief - it's not a "need" as such rather something that happens.
Although in the case of organised religion a good case can be made that they play on peoples needs to be part of a group or socially connected to likeminded folks and use that to their advantage.
But I doubt there is anything particularly special about any given belief or subset of believers psychologically.