I came across an interesting article in New Scientist that has turned the debate about belief in God on its head. It suggests that, given the prevelance of belief in God throughout history, all over the world, we should not ask , 'why do some people believe in God?', but rather we should study atheists to investigate why they do not.
Some prominent atheists such as Richard Dawkins (actually Dawkins refers to himself as agnostic) have pointed out that statistically, theists are less intelligent than atheists, and that this may help answer the above question. However the article also suggests that when this is explored more deeply it is not that simple. It seems, for example,that post graduates are actually more likely to believe in God than not. The danger with statistics is that they can easily be skewed and viewed to support a number of different conclusions. I personally know some very intelligent theists and atheists, aswell as some that are not so intelligent in both groups too!
Dawkins, like many other atheists/sceptical agnostics, likes to point to the lack of scientific empirical evidence for God. While it is true that God's existence has not been disproved by science, Dawkins certainly has a point that many scientists argue that science does not point to a God and has shown some traditional theistic beliefs, regarding creation for example, to be incompatible with a modern view of the world. Yet many theists know this and still retain their faith. Is it because of their lack of intelligence? Well surely this is too much of a generalisation and does not account for the likes of John Polkinghorne who is a world class scientist and also a Christian minister. Embracing a scientific view of the world does not, it would seem, necessarily lead to atheism. So, does Polkinghorne have 'something' that Dawkins does not?
It is very hard to pin down why some people beleive in God and some do not and, in attempting to answer this question, it is very easy to rely on sweeping generalisations. It will be interesting to see what this study reveals. Until then the question still remains...
Why do atheists just not get 'it'?
Check out the article here.
Oh Sir, you knew this would annoy me.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, DUDE I'm an agnostic! though if backed into a corner, I would say I don't believe in any form of God which is worshiped by organised religions and that's just me. Maybe I'm just to cynical.
Anyways, it's because as people we seem to not believe anything we've been told without any form of concrete evidence, for example, in the justice system. A lack of faith would therefore be justified as there is no real solid concrete evidence which can not be questioned or interpreted to be anything different. We're pessamistic by nature.
You know who this is.
It is true, as you say, that there is no solid proof for the existence of God, but, as we have seen, many millions, at least some of whom are very intelligent and well educated, still do believe.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it is as you say; that those who don't beleive are simply more cynical or pessimistic... but then I'm sure there are some atheists/agnostics who may argue they are neither of these things...
I think it has nothing to do with intelligence, but rather whether one is educated, socially conditioned towards belief and most importantly, I think it's to do with an obviously polygenic 'gearing' towards faith and the feel good factor it gives.
ReplyDeleteThere's a very good evolutionary explanation for faith, in my opinion. Going back to the cave man we developed a belief because we simply did not know any better, and someone with that belief is more likely to do better in society because they seem to know the answers, people with the answers generally have authority, and so people adapted to the idea of the supernatural. I think the 'feel-good' factor people get from prayer, meditation and so on varies in strength, you get people who don't believe just because they.. don't. They don't feel awe in Church, or happy when they pray, whilst others, like myself, have had to struggle with the logical fallacies of the Judeo-Christian god whilst observing the powerful effect prayer has on me as a person, the kind of effect scientists speculate is synonymous with the placebo effect, and no, I'm not talking about the band.
So, why do some people believe in God whilst others don't? There's lack of information, people simply don't know they don't have to believe, and have never heard anyone intelligently assert that there isn't a god, so they go with the argument ad populum and hope for the best. There's the people who were brought up that way; children don't question and adults authority because there's just not enough time to as they develop, a child who questioned 'crocodiles are dangerous' would probably end up a very dead child. In the same way, children often adopt the faith of their parents because the parent is the authority figure (which explains why preachers with strong character are often so popular, we're geared towards gathering around a strong figure for the best survival). And then, I would suggest, there's people like me. Evolution has programmed people to be religious because being religious means you're generally in a community, which humans survive best in, as well as the placebo effect and the kind of joy that religious people feel, meaning they're healthier, more likely to reproduce and replicate those kind of characteristics in their offspring.
Of course, I'm no evolutionary biologist, but it seems to me to be the better, more rational than 'cos god wants us to believe in him.'
Also, whoever you are, I'm not pessimistic. Thanks. And I don't know why you'd make that assumption? Seems to me obvious that believing in a supernatural being doesn't have any effect on your optimism or outlook on life.