Almighty Brain

hamilcarr

Obama was scientifically accurate when he declared that one clings to god and gun in times of distress. This week's NewScientist devoted an interesting set of articles on our Almighty Brain.

WHILE many institutions collapsed during the Great Depression that began in 1929, one kind did rather well. During this leanest of times, the strictest, most authoritarian churches saw a surge in attendance.

This anomaly was documented in the early 1970s, but only now is science beginning to tell us why. It turns out that human beings have a natural inclination for religious belief, especially during hard times. Our brains effortlessly conjure up an imaginary world of spirits, gods and monsters, and the more insecure we feel, the harder it is to resist the pull of this supernatural world. It seems that our minds are finely tuned to believe in gods.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126941.700-born-believers-how-your-brain-creates-god.html?full=true

slimboyfat

Yes I read a book on a similar subject a few years ago. It concluded that high rates of religiosity are related to instability, hardship and inequality in a society.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sacred-Secular-Religion-Worldwide-Cambridge/dp/0521548721/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234477251&sr=1-4

IP_SEC

what about the gun part?

people also cling to things that want that are on the virge of being taken from them.

they also clinge to things they know when they have been failed by their BIG BRO.

Satanus

That's why we need to create an system/atmosphere that is conducive to having plenty. Lean, oppressive times is the milieu from which the bible sprang. Islam, also.

S

When the times get bad the government tends to step on peoples rights, facisim becomes more rampant the Witnesses start predicting the end and their numbers increase, . A little religion (not JW fanaticism) and whole lot of people with guns helps promote freedom and fight facisim.

quietlyleaving

I thought this was relevant to us xjws

Boyer is keen to point out that religious adults are not childish or weak-minded. Studies reveal that religious adults have very different mindsets from children, concentrating more on the moral dimensions of their faith and less on its supernatural attributes.

Another factor is that the article seems to suggest 2 different lines of argument. Those who argue for adaptation and those who argue for innate brain circuity that supports superstition hypothesizing and creativity (that can lead to superstition sometimes)

And then of course we have those who argue for both. Although I thought Richard Dawkins preferred the adaptive stance and only if pushed would agree to innateness as well. The way he puts it makes me suspect that he only grudgingly concedes to supernatural belief being innate. (I'm not going to paste what he says because I disagree with him and his language seemed pejorative to me - check his last sentence)

Bloom argues for innateness

It goes something like this. Left to their own devices, children create their own "creole" languages using hard-wired linguistic brain circuits. A similar experiment would provide our best test of the innate religious inclinations of humans. Would a group of children raised in isolation spontaneously create their own religious beliefs? "I think the answer is yes," says Bloom.