HolyShit Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 I view religion or believing in god as an instinctual impulse. Could it be that our brains our evolving the unnecessary superstitions out? This combined with education and more understanding of our world and universe is sure to drive out this primitive "instinct". I just wish it would act more quickly. Curious to hear any other thoughts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeasabird Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 They breed more than us, so probably not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tothemorning Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 Unfortunately parents continue to indoctrinate. I don't think the tide is going to turn anytime soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REBOOT Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 I view religion or believing in god as an instinctual impulse. Could it be that our brains our evolving the unnecessary superstitions out? This combined with education and more understanding of our world and universe is sure to drive out this primitive "instinct". I just wish it would act more quickly. Curious to hear any other thoughts... Key here is the word education. If you're going to promote and teach intelligent design ideology then you're going to devolve back to religions lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hereticzero Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 I do not believe a belief in Woo is an instinctive impulse. I believe the entire thing to be peer-driven. It's fed to us as children and reinforced by those around us throughout our lives. The uneducated peoples use Woo magic beliefs as their version of 'scientific thought', for lack of a better explanation of their world around them. The mountains rumble because god is angry or volcanoes erupt when a goddess desires sacrifice or lightning flashes when another god is at his forge.We all know these to be natural occurrences but to primitive thinkers, Woo is alive and well. This thinking changes the more educated even the most primitive of people become. It becomes irrational thinking when one holds onto 'faith' simply because they are afraid of changing their way of thinking because they have always thought that way because of peer influence to do so, it becomes willful ignorance in the face of truth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Margee Posted September 1, 2012 Moderator Share Posted September 1, 2012 I found this little 'interview' to be interesting........ http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=g3SAC69VFrQ#! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HolyShit Posted September 1, 2012 Author Share Posted September 1, 2012 I do not believe a belief in Woo is an instinctive impulse. I believe the entire thing to be peer-driven. It's fed to us as children and reinforced by those around us throughout our lives. The uneducated peoples use Woo magic beliefs as their version of 'scientific thought', for lack of a better explanation of their world around them. The mountains rumble because god is angry or volcanoes erupt when a goddess desires sacrifice or lightning flashes when another god is at his forge.We all know these to be natural occurrences but to primitive thinkers, Woo is alive and well. This thinking changes the more educated even the most primitive of people become. It becomes irrational thinking when one holds onto 'faith' simply because they are afraid of changing their way of thinking because they have always thought that way because of peer influence to do so, it becomes willful ignorance in the face of truth. Yes, I agree with all of this. I've seen it firsthand by being born and raised in Tennessee. I guess the only thing we have in our favor is education and the easy access to it via the internet. Thank you for your thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymistake Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 Many people are hard wired to see connections . . . even if no connection exists. It is instinct just like a cat must hunt mice even when hunger isn't an issue. Now this does't mean they must be religious. But for this aspect of the mind to get replaced by something better will take some time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 I view religion or believing in god as an instinctual impulse. Could it be that our brains our evolving the unnecessary superstitions out? I highly doubt it. The way how "belief" works in our brain is fairly complex. I suspect we'd risk losing ingenuity and innovation. This combined with education and more understanding of our world and universe is sure to drive out this primitive "instinct". I think we can eventually get rid of many of our current religions, if we're lucky, but the belief in something higher than ourselves might be very hard to remove from most people. I just wish it would act more quickly. To wish something requires the ability to dream and hope about a possible future. A lot of people dream and hope about the possibility of higher powers. I only dream and hope about a world with less extreme fringe beliefs, on all sides of the spectrum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted September 1, 2012 Super Moderator Share Posted September 1, 2012 I think what's instinctual is our need to have answers. Until science explains everything (which it likely never will) we will sacrifice virgins to the volcano god, believe in Noah's ark, and blame natural disasters on homosexual activity. Oh wait, science HAS explained all that. It's hopeless. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Babylonian Dream Posted September 1, 2012 Share Posted September 1, 2012 No, but ever since the Age of Reason, there's been a gradual phasing out of religion. Now, with the internet, that phasing out is making religion start racing towards reaching maximum entropy. No longer can people stick to the isolated communities that pressure them to believe alone. You encounter people of different faiths and the lack of faiths, and that neutralizes that social pressure, or at least in most cases moves into that direction (depending on the strength of that pressure and the isolation of that community). This exposure is something cult leaders always avoided because they knew what religious communities now are seeing, that it opens them up to being able to question like they didn't before. Now that people are questioning, they are seeing. Also, information is accessible within seconds, in which would once take hours upon hours of study in libraries before the internet. It's just insane what this has done to our ability to learn. I have a huge knowledge base of linguistics, 90% came either from online websites or online stores. This is a revolution that is really really bad for religion. Its not evolution, its the internet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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