We are all born believers

arvind13 · **#21** by **arvind13** » Apr 12, 2012 12:47 am

the whole premise of this book is flawed. It assumes that religion is a cultural universal, when in reality, there is no adequate scientific theory on what makes some phenomenon into a religion. For example, what makes X into a religion but not Y?

there are hundreds of definitions of religion. This is not a good thing. The hundreds of definitions show the lack of a sound scientific theory about the concept of religion.

THWOTH · **#22** by **THWOTH** » Apr 12, 2012 2:01 am

arvind13 wrote:the whole premise of this book is flawed. It assumes that religion is a cultural universal, when in reality, there is no adequate scientific theory on what makes some phenomenon into a religion. For example, what makes X into a religion but not Y?

there are hundreds of definitions of religion. This is not a good thing. The hundreds of definitions show the lack of a sound scientific theory about the concept of religion.

They also show that there is no end to what people are willing to elevate to the status of their 'sacred beliefs' and 'obligatory principles for life.'

vera · **#23** by **vera** » Apr 14, 2012 1:30 am

Arjan Dirkse wrote:Nobody comes out of the womb praying.

When we're tiny, people tell us Santaclaus is real. Later on those people confess that they lied and we stop believing. With God, they never admitted the lies.

As long as you have the feeling that you exist, then God exists. God isn't Santa until you stop having this feeling.

MacIver wrote:

The whole "freewill" argument goes out the window if God made us biologically predisposed to believe in him. On top of this there is the utterly convincing argument that the so called "God Spot" would of played a very important part in forming bonds within the tribes of our ancestors.

The "freewill " is a notion strictly applied amongst individuals of the same species e.g. humans.
It doesn't apply to the supernatural power that endowed us with it.
That is the instincts and they actually represent your "freewill".

THWOTH · **#24** by **THWOTH** » Apr 14, 2012 1:52 am

vera wrote:
Arjan Dirkse wrote:Nobody comes out of the womb praying.

When we're tiny, people tell us Santaclaus is real. Later on those people confess that they lied and we stop believing. With God, they never admitted the lies.

As long as you have the feeling that you exist, then God exists. God isn't Santa until you stop having this feeling.

I will only stop having the feeling that I exist when I no longer exist.
If God only exists when I have the feeling that I exist then God no longer exists when I no longer exist.
When I die God ceases to exist.

Why is God's existence dependent on my existence?

vera · **#25** by **vera** » Apr 16, 2012 9:53 am

THWOTH wrote:
vera wrote:
Arjan Dirkse wrote:Nobody comes out of the womb praying.

When we're tiny, people tell us Santaclaus is real. Later on those people confess that they lied and we stop believing. With God, they never admitted the lies.

As long as you have the feeling that you exist, then God exists. God isn't Santa until you stop having this feeling.

I will only stop having the feeling that I exist when I no longer exist.
If God only exists when I have the feeling that I exist then God no longer exists when I no longer exist.
When I die God ceases to exist.

Why is God's existence dependent on my existence?

Ugh! It's the other way around: Your existence is entirely dependent on God's existence.

Reich said something like this: humans are just electrical devices, receptors connected to the Universal energy source. (sorry if the quote isn't too accurate, I don't have time to search the book now and give you the original quote).

What I meant is that as long as you (have the feeling) that you exist, because I am not very sure that what I perceive with my 5 senses is indeed the universal reality, actually I am quite sure it is not, as long as we perceive the spectrum of light as colours and we don't perceive right the 4-th dimmension - time (and God knows how many more are there), something endowed you with this feeling, so God exists. This energy that looks neverending to us is God. God has nothing to do with the earthly narrow religious concepts.

When you will cease to exist, for sure that other forms of life and not only of life but simply of matter will still exist.
That leads naturally to the idea of infinite space and energy. As long as we don't understand what this is, this is God.
God was smart enough to heavily distort the reality for you (see the examples above with the colours and the time, so you never be able to understand anything of Him).

Einstein was a genius because God allowed him to see the fourth dimmension. He was also a believer. The more you know, the more you simply believe. See also Pascal, who in his last years wrote religious stuff.

HomerJay · **#26** by **HomerJay** » Apr 16, 2012 10:14 am

vera wrote:God was smart enough to heavily distort the reality

Well, something has.

rEvolutionist · **#27** by **rEvolutionist** » Apr 16, 2012 10:14 am

...cognitive anthropology...

I have to laugh at some of the terms used to define fields in some disciplines. I really can't see what this term is describing that couldn't be better described by more regular terms.

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