MagickMonkey Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 We need to get busy and start cranking out some kids to counteract this: http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-religiosity-gene-dominate-society.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilovemybrain Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Well alright...*assuming the position* oh wait...HELL NO I have more offspring than I can handle already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagickMonkey Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 Well alright...*assuming the position* oh wait...HELL NO I have more offspring than I can handle already. Damn, almost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpheliaGinger Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Well, of course they do; their religion pretty much demands that they pop out babies. I don't really give this article much credence because the actual "gene" for religiosity has not be located and thus not verified. Religion pretty much relies on scare tactics in order to get people into the fold, so, in my estimation, is the most deciding factor on whether or not a person joins or spreads said religion (and not some gene). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagickMonkey Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 Well, of course they do; their religion pretty much demands that they pop out babies. I don't really give this article much credence because the actual "gene" for religiosity has not be located and thus not verified. Religion pretty much relies on scare tactics in order to get people into the fold, so, in my estimation, is the most deciding factor on whether or not a person joins or spreads said religion (and not some gene). Well, I doubt there is a single gene for a single factor that makes people more susceptible to being religious, but certainly there are various genes for various factors that do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surrounded Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Scientists are finding that religious beliefs are biologically innate in human beings. There is a natural tendency towards paranoia in humans that helps us survive, but also causes irrational fear of the unknown, like death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight-mindwanderings Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 But remember, believers kids have at least a 50% leaving rate so I think it evens out on its own Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilentLoner Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 But remember, believers kids have at least a 50% leaving rate so I think it evens out on its own This. We all had xtian parents now didn't we? Plus there's no guarantee your kids will stay atheist or agnostic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legion Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 I don't believe there is a religion gene. We, humans, are learning. We're learning at all kinds of levels: somatically, mentally, culturally, etc. It wasn't all that long ago when we were chucking spears at mastodons and weaving baskets from reeds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagickMonkey Posted January 31, 2011 Author Share Posted January 31, 2011 I don't believe there is a religion gene. We, humans, are learning. We're learning at all kinds of levels: somatically, mentally, culturally, etc. It wasn't all that long ago when we were chucking spears at mastodons and weaving baskets from reeds. Much of how we act is due to cultural influences, personal experiences, etc. Still, it's wrong to think genetics play no part in our behavior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legion Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 I am not suggesting that genetics plays no role in our behavior. But if we are predisposed to inferential faux pas then I think it's only because we are relatively new to the cognitive game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vomit Comet Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 but also causes irrational fear of the unknown, like death. I wouldn't call the fear of death "irrational." Reactions to it have been irrational, but not the fear itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OpheliaGinger Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Humans love being frightened--and that's no speculation--but I think that ever since we started to form societies that protected us, we have a need to keep that sense of fear alive. Having an easily stimulated amygdala is highly beneficial in the wild because it keeps a species from falling into the jaws of pray too often, but when you take that animal (humans) out of the wild, they get uncomfortable without the constant threat of death surrounding them. That is just my theory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LivingLife Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Really? I cannot believe that any of you missed this irrefutable piece of evidence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyjj Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Maybe it should be the case that religious people don't have children at all - if you believe that God sends people to hell, surely you shouldn't have kids even if there were less than a 1% chance that this would happen? A reverse Pascal's wager if you like.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vomit Comet Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Maybe it should be the case that religious people don't have children at all - if you believe that God sends people to hell, surely you shouldn't have kids even if there were less than a 1% chance that this would happen? A reverse Pascal's wager if you like.... Well, there's a possibility that your kid might grow up to save two or three other people. don't abort potential evangelist! (smoked hashish tonight. Wheeeeeee!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgtbrushes Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Here'n'There, that video is hilarious. I've seen it before, and I love it. Anyone seen the movie, Idiocracy? It's pretty mediocre, and its story focuses on social/ economic problems, not religion in particular. Basically, all the people who watch Jerry Springer crank out kids like crazy, and all the people with graduate degrees have 1 or 2 kids in their 30s. This makes the gene pool (in America, at least) evolving toward stupid, basically. In my opinion, this is actually happening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigVaden Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Here'n'There, that video is hilarious. I've seen it before, and I love it. Anyone seen the movie, Idiocracy? It's pretty mediocre, and its story focuses on social/ economic problems, not religion in particular. Basically, all the people who watch Jerry Springer crank out kids like crazy, and all the people with graduate degrees have 1 or 2 kids in their 30s. This makes the gene pool (in America, at least) evolving toward stupid, basically. In my opinion, this is actually happening. I definitely agree. Not attempting to drag this thread into the realm of politics here, but I think another contributing factor to that is the abuse of welfare that's running rampant in American society. A good portion of people on welfare are just too lazy or stupid to go out and get a job and their solution is to have more kids because that means a bigger government check, thus we have that many more stupid lazy asses. Not to say that all people that come from that kind of background wind up being stupid and/or lazy, but I'd bet the majority do as they share the same genetics that their parent(s) had. Just my two cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vomit Comet Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 but I'd bet the majority do as they share the same genetics that their parent(s) had. Genetic reductionism. And there's been plenty of dumbshits who went off to Harvard and Yale because of who their daddy was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surrounded Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 but also causes irrational fear of the unknown, like death. I wouldn't call the fear of death "irrational." Reactions to it have been irrational, but not the fear itself. True, my point was more that we will accept irrational things like heaven and hell because of the fear. I didn't communicate very clearly though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surrounded Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Humans love being frightened--and that's no speculation--but I think that ever since we started to form societies that protected us, we have a need to keep that sense of fear alive. Having an easily stimulated amygdala is highly beneficial in the wild because it keeps a species from falling into the jaws of pray too often, but when you take that animal (humans) out of the wild, they get uncomfortable without the constant threat of death surrounding them. That is just my theory. What i was saying, but 1 million times better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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