Why do we believe in God?

[Henk Elegeert]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3393198.ece

"
Why do we believe in God? £2m study prays for answer
Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent

Researchers at the University of Oxford will spend £1.9 million
investigating why people believe in God. Academics have been given a
grant to try to find out whether belief in a deity is a matter of
nature or nurture.

They will not attempt to solve the question of whether God exists but
they will examine evidence to try to prove whether belief in God
conferred an evolutionary advantage to mankind. They will also
consider the possibility that faith developed as a byproduct of other
human characteristics, such as sociability.

Researchers at the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion and the
Centre for Anthropology and Mind in Oxford will use the cognitive
science disciplines to develop "a scientific approach to why we
believe in God and other issues around the nature and origin of
religious belief".

The cognitive sciences, or the science of mind and intelligence,
combine disciplines such as evolutionary biology, neuroscience,
linguistics and computer sciences to examine human behaviour.

Justin Barrett, a psychologist who has been quoted in support of
arguments by both the atheist Richard Dawkins and his critic, Alister
Mc-Grath, a Christian theologian, said: "We are interested in
exploring exactly in what sense belief in God is natural. We think
there is more on the nature side than a lot of people suppose."

He compared believers to three-year-olds who "assume that other people
know almost everything there is to be known". Dr Barrett, who is a
Christian, is the editor of the Journal of Cognition and Cultureand
author of the book Why Would Anyone Believe in God? He said that the
childish tendency to believe in the omniscience of others was pared
down by experience as people grew up. But this tendency, necessary to
allow human beings to socialise and cooperate with each other in a
productive way, continued when it came to belief in God.

"It usually does continue into adult life," he said. "It is easy, it
is intuitive, it is natural. It fits our default assumptions about
things."

The research will feed into other areas, such as whether the conflicts
associated with religion are a product of human nature. The project
will also examine whether belief in the afterlife is something that
needs to be taught or is a product of natural selection.

Dr Barrett said: "The next step therefore is to look at some of the
detailed questions – which religious beliefs are most common and most
natural for the human mind to grasp?" The most exciting questions were
in areas such as the different responses to polytheism and monotheism,
for example, and relationships between religion and evolutionary
biology.

He and his colleague Roger Trigg will be investigating whether
religion is a part of the selection process that has helped humans
survive or merely a byproduct of evolution.

The three-year study is being funded by a £1.9 million grant to the
Ian Ramsey Centre from the John Templeton Foundation, which supports
research into religion, science and spirituality. There will be
seminars and workshops, while £800,000 will go towards a small grant
competition, with 41 grants for different projects.

Professor Trigg, a senior research Fellow at Oxford and author of
Religion in Public Life: Must Faith be Privatised?, said: "Religion
has played an important role in public life over the past few years
and the debate about the origin of religion, and how it fits into the
human mind, has intensified. This study will not prove or disprove any
aspect of religion."
"

Verplicht afkicken/resocialiseren behoort dan tot de mogelijkheden?

In elk geval hoeft dan de ambstwoning van de Minister President niet
langer te worden ingezet voor satanswerk .... de Minister Predikant.

Of, hoe wil je/ie zonder geloof kunnen functioneren?

Henk Elegeert

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