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May 12th, 2011
12:46 PM ET
Religious belief is human nature, huge new study claimsBy Richard Allen Greene, CNN London (CNN) - Religion comes naturally, even instinctively, to human beings, a massive new study of cultures all around the world suggests. "We tend to see purpose in the world," Oxford University professor Roger Trigg said Thursday. "We see agency. We think that something is there even if you can't see it. ... All this tends to build up to a religious way of thinking." Trigg is co-director of the three-year Oxford-based project, which incorporated more than 40 different studies by dozens of researchers looking at countries from China to Poland and the United States to Micronesia. Studies around the world came up with similar findings, including widespread belief in some kind of afterlife and an instinctive tendency to suggest that natural phenomena happen for a purpose. "Children in particular found it very easy to think in religious ways," such as believing in God's omniscience, said Trigg. But adults also jumped first for explanations that implied an unseen agent at work in the world, the study found. The study doesn't say anything about whether God, gods or an afterlife exist, said Justin Barrett, the project's other co-director. "This project does not set out to prove God or gods exist. Just because we find it easier to think in a particular way does not mean that it is true in fact," he said. Both atheists and religious people could use the study to argue their sides, Trigg told CNN. Famed secularist Richard "Dawkins would accept our findings and say we've got to grow out of it," Trigg argued. But people of faith could argue that the universality of religious sentiment serves God's purpose, the philosophy professor said. "Religious people would say, 'If there is a God, then ... he would have given us inclinations to look for him,'" Trigg said. The blockbuster study may not take a stance on the existence of God, but it has profound implications for religious freedom, Trigg contends. "If you've got something so deep-rooted in human nature, thwarting it is in some sense not enabling humans to fulfill their basic interests," Trigg said. "There is quite a drive to think that religion is private," he said, arguing that such a belief is wrong. "It isn't just a quirky interest of a few, it's basic human nature." "This shows that it's much more universal, prevalent, and deep-rooted. It's got to be reckoned with. You can't just pretend it isn't there," he said. And the Oxford study, known as the Cognition, Religion and Theology Project, strongly implies that religion will not wither away, he said. "The secularization thesis of the 1960s - I think that was hopeless," Trigg concluded. |
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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The obvious:
1. That it exists does not mean it is true.
2. That it might have provided some advantage in the evolution of our species and civilization does not mean it provides the same utility for the maintenance of civilization today.
3. False beliefs can perhaps be useful, but that is not an argument for the forfeiture of Truth in assembling what we believe.
4. At best one religion is a correct representation of the true metaphysics of the universe, and at worst, they are all false.
"We tend to see purpose in the world..." - That's just plain old human arrogance. Our ancestors looked up into the night sky, saw the stars that *seemed* to revolve around us and *assumed* we were the center of the universe, therefore we *must* be important. They didn't understand the world around them, so they feared it, prayed to make it rain and (when it finally did) mistook coincidence for causation. Then we go and create gods in OUR image. Finally, we go out into the world, meet other civilizations who have created THEIR OWN gods and we fight them, because they *must* be sinners, because *our* god is the "one true" god. Yada, yada, yada...
Until you have the strength to think and question for yourself, you will be nothing but a sheep, eternally enslaved to some mythological tyrant.
Reread the article but replace the word "religion" with "mythology," "the supernatural," or "magical thinking."
Nice! Well done, sir!
Excellent, but why are you named after a plant that gives food more flavor?
Herb (12th Apostle)
Reread the article but replace the word "religion" with "mythology," "the supernatural," or "magical thinking."
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Religions of present time are just active myths with active followers. Dead ones or ones with no more followers are then put on a chelf in the library.
Well, yeah it's human nature, in that humans have the power to reason about their life and death. Most humans fear death, so we make up stories to make it easier – like there's a heaven, and that there is an 'afterlife', and that it doesn't really just END.
Even when someone dies, I have people tell me that the dead person is 'looking down at me from heaven' or 'she's in a better place now' – it's because we don't want to accept that when you die, it's the end.
Are you Maryann from Brooklyn?
An honest God is the noblest work of Man...
Unfortunately, a benevolent god wouldn't seek your worship and praise (only someone w/low self-esteem or an over-inflated ego seeks praise from those beneath them). Therefore, if there was a god and it was benevolent, there would be NO religions.
i find it interesting that this study says belief is instinctive after studying religious cultures. well yes, if they already have a belief system that they are immersed in then of course you will find it instinctive. they can't get away from it. find a child raised in an environment that has never had any exposure to religion and see if that human would creat a god or gods on its own. obviously humans have done that in the past or we wouldn't have religion but was it a select few who instinctively developed belief and then spread it or, in many cases, forced it on others who had no instinct for it? those are the questions that should be asked.
Brad, I don't think I agree with you. I read this to say that even if you asked people with no background concept of a deity or religion you will still find them trying to explain the unknown in terms of some supernatural concept (not necessarily a deity but some unknown force). Now if you can imagine those same people with no knowledge of science, you have the birth of God, for an example see human history.
I fail to see how this is a "blockbuster study". It may seem that people have a natural inclination to believe in a higher power or spiritual world, but that can be directly attributed to the environment they grew up in. Children are a sponge with stuff like this, so beliefs that are pressed upon them at an early age absorb into them and thus have a lasting effect. Also, religious beliefs can directly relate to evolution. Religion has become so ingrained in our culture over thousands of years, that it has become something that is passed on from generation to generation, just like common moral values such as the golden rule and not committing murder.
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I try to live by a simple philosophy. If I can't understand it or explain it I blame it on god. Life is so much simpler that way.
In the genomics age what if it could be demonstrated that an allele or constellation of alleles was correlated with a belief in supernatural. What would be the sociological and political response to that? Just curious what others think?
The ability of the true Christian to ignore inconvenient facts is seemingly indefatigable. We have know, well before this study, that we have a tendency to seek an afterlife and to see causative agents hidden in nature. We also know of the thousands of different religions that have sprung into existence based directly on this instinct over the last few thousand years, and yet they still claim that their particular pattern in the clouds is the “one true one”.
"based directly on this instinct?" How can you know that? Correlation doesn't demonstrate causation. You seem to throw reason around the way some Christians throw around Jesus
No, religious belief is NOT human nature but stupidity clearly is. Relgion was invented by those to manipuate, control, subjugate and profit from the masses while trying to explain what their small minds could not grasp in regards to science, nature and their surroundings. Only fools belief in a mysterious bearded man in the sky.
No, religion was invented by children who were afaid of the dark. We all fit into that category sometimes, in some way or another.
Religion was organized, systematized, and dogmatized by people who realized what a great tool it was to control others.
- mm
"Relgion was invented by those to manipuate, control, subjugate and profit from the masses" . . . Exactly. And that is human nature.
"religious freedom" - there's a great oxymoron.
False. Religion offers freedom to do the good. It offers liberty rather than license (i.e. to do whatever you want).
You are so right...
@Believer: "Religion offers freedom to do the good. It offers liberty rather than license (i.e. to do whatever you want)".
Does this mean that your religion has to define "good" for you? You do what you want anyway. Religion is used to justify your actions, it does not provide a moral standard.
" Religion offers freedom to do the good. It offers liberty rather than license"
FALSE. Religion takes away the freedom to think for yourself. It offers NO liberty, but rather limits your thought as well as your future.
Having no religion is not a LICENSE to 'do whatever you want,' rather it is the freedom to do what YOU know is right, instead of having to follow what someone ELSE thinks is right. Religion is a VERY poor guide to morality.
Thank you Ms. Taylor Smith! Religion is a personal thing, an souhld not invade another's private space. Does the world have an global religion? Yes. One Peace. There is no sane human on earth who will not want to practice the religion of Peace.You may practice in a church or synagogue, I may practice in a mosque, but we all are working towards that one common goal of trying to retain faith in God in the face of the life's many adversities. It is a common human struggle, no matter what path of peaceful practice we choose to take. Muslims around the world are not responsible for the reprehensible actions of the murderers of 9-11. Violence has no religion. Violence IS a religion. The religion of the minority, the sub-human, the beasts.Let the majority not descend into that abyss. True salvation lies in peace.
@Tiffany – How long did it take you to read the article and respond? You wouldn't happen to be blonde are you? No, no, i'm not psychic, there was just something about your name and how old this article is that made me smell highly concentrated peroxides...
Religion are humans working their way to God, but has failed. It is corruped, it deceives, kills, and destroys.
A RELATIONSHIP with God through Christ is what we need, not some man made religion that twistes the word of God and follow their own tradtion while ignoring what saith the Lord.
HeIsGod
Religion are humans working their way to God, but has failed. It is corruped, it deceives, kills, and destroys.
A RELATIONSHIP with God through Christ is what we need,not some man made religion that twistes the word of God and follow their own tradtion while ignoring what saith the Lord.
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So who wrote your bible? Leave out assumptions please.
Are you advocating a form of christianity that rejects the bible or are you claiming that the bible is not man-made? If it is the former, what makes you believe that a "relationship" with christ is the right way? If it is the latter, do you realize that not one of the gospels was written by someone who actually knew or even met Jesus?
So a priest works his way to god with the help of a young boy?
Denial is a river in Egypt, but its also what you seem to be dealing with (not so well). Thank you for making my day, I needed that!
You still don't get it, do you? There is no god. God is something that people made up in their minds for themselves, like Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny, like Allah, Shiva, and Zeus.
No news here. Look up the GOD GENE in wiki.
I am an agnostic, but do think that we humans have a disposition to believe. Just as with any traits, there are individual differences in this willingness to believe in something, but I think for the most part humans are destined to hold religious beliefs. I think it makes perfect evolutionary sense. Religion and belief in a god are coping mechanisms that allow indivudals and groups of people to be more successful in their environment. We created god to explain the unexplainable which scares us (e.g., death) and to help us make sense of our world.
Religion is excellent for filling in gaps that are not understood – yet. To say that genocide is god's will, or god works in mysterious ways is childish. When man understood 1% of what was going on around him, religion was necessary. Now, when we undeerstand 99% of what goes on around us, religion is merely a business.
> Religion is excellent for filling in gaps that are not understood – yet.
It's excellent for filling in an unknown with another unknown. Except that it seems like an answer. The question "By what method did this occur" is equally unanswered by "I don't know" and "God dun it."
Larry,
Now, when we understand 99% of what goes on around us, religion is merely a business? I look around and I don't think we are anywhere near the 99% mark.
If you want to know God, we have to allow Him to work within us. He works internally, not externally. It is His desire for us to know Him and has made a way for us to do so from the beginning of time before Christ died on the Cross of Calvary. and today, it is ONLY through Christ that one can come to know Him in the spiritual way. This is what many religious, Atheists, and Agnostics are missing in their liveds. To know God, Jehovah, has been the very best thing that has happened to me. He has shown me His love, will, and purpose for my life.
My prayer is that those who don't know God may not live through out their lives rejecting Him and return back to their Creator.
God bless you all,
Thank you Lord!
Another example:
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Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that makes it difficult to tell the difference between real and unreal experiences, to think logically, to have normal emotional responses, and to behave normally in social situations.
As the illness continues, psychotic symptoms develop:
• False beliefs or thoughts that are not based in reality (delusions)
• Hearing, seeing, or feeling things that are not there (hallucinations)
Have you considered some sort or form of medication for your insanity?
@ Artist – Stop being lazy and do the research yourself. You have not because you ask not.
Who created the creator you reference?
"My prayer is that those who don't know God may not live through out their lives rejecting Him and return back to their Creator" . . . See, this fascinates me. I am fine with people who have their beliefs, but I am puzzled why people insist on foisting their beliefs unto others. HelsGod -why do you care if I share the same beliefs as you? I am not expecting you to share my beliefs. This is where people start to draw distinctions and group people based on beliefs. This is where people start to see only black and white, no gray. Can I be a good person, live a full life, but still reject your version of a creator?
HeIsGod
@ Artist – Stop being lazy and do the research yourself. You have not because you ask not.
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Ontop of being delusional it appears you have an attention span issue.
There is a vast difference between rejecting and not believing or just simpe not caring.
I am an atheist and am missing nothing in my life along the lines that you propose.
Where was your invisible friend in the sky when the World Trade Center went down?
Apparently it's okay for the Atheists/Agnostics to hope that believers will "Come to their senses" but believers can't hope or pray that non-believers will believe. @HelsGod didn't say "Repent or go to He11!" he just prayed that you would believe. You will never agree on what each other believes, so stop trying to.
> Apparently it's okay for the Atheists/Agnostics to hope that believers will "Come to their senses" but believers can't hope or pray that non-believers will believe.
Yes, because it's demonstratable that believing in things for which you have no evidence can lead you to the wrong conclusions. It is demonstratable that your process of thinking is flawed.
You're welcome to pray, you're welcome to hope. Those are your beliefs. You have a right to your own beliefs. However, you do not have a right to your own facts. You do not have a right to bend reality to whatever you choose to believe in.
The fact is that Yahweh was lifted from a polythestic concept. The fact is that he was the God of War. The fact is that many different people wrote Genesis, Exodus, Deut and Leviticus. The fact is that there is no contemporary account of Jesus. The fact is the books of Mark, Luke, Matt and John are easily drawn along timescales and represent the political leanings of the time.
The fact is that faith is the wrong path to truth. For me, the most intelligent position to take is to hold as many true beliefs as possible via evidence and to claim "I do not know" for what you don't.
Is there a God? I don't know. But I also know that no one else does either.
What if I turn back to my creator and he is...Vishnu?
@Artist: What did you think about the results of the study? Do you think it's true that spiritual aspects are instinctual and ingrained? The need for answering the question "Why am I here?" or seeing patterns that make people think there's more out there or a purposeful nature... Because if you agree with the conclusions of the study, don't you think looking at someone as just delusional and crazy because they are more prone to those instincts might be missing the point of the study? You can't will away hunger by logic. Or reason away fear. To ask people to push away this instinct by thinking logically doesn't work. Dismissing them as crazy doesn't work either unless you're just out to ps people off. There must be a better way to get believers to see things from a non-believer's point of view.
If the supreme creator wanted me to believe in him/her why didn't he/she build me with that belief embedded. If I wanted to build something and if I was a perfect engineer/designer I would get it built EXACTLY according to how I would have wanted it. So either, (i) I wasn't build by so perfect a creator, (ii) the creator theory is flawed, or, (iii) the creator deliberately made me this way (with the agnostic nature). If theories (i) or (ii) hold then I have no further argument. If (iii) is true, then I am how I am and you have no business telling me how to be, I guess.
"Children in particular found it very easy to think in religious ways," such as believing in God's omniscience, said Trigg. But adults also jumped first for explanations that implied an unseen agent at work in the world, the study found.
Really? The same children that believe in Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy right?
It's really hard to get a child to believe something isn't it? /end sarcasm
Afterall, pre-school and elementary school "teach" addition, subtraction, etc. so just about every child knows that 1+1=2. Ask them to prove it though and you'll have to wait quite a few years for them to get fairly deep into college level mathematics to get back to you with that. And no, proof is not holding up an apple in each hand and going, "See? Two!" That's merely word association with physical representation. You could "teach" a young child that dog feces is "a flower" with the same methods used in early school.
And I understand that some people need to have their world conform to a sense of order. That there's some plan beyond their grasp that sets a course they're on. In my opinion, too many of those people are lazy thinkers and simply latch on to religion because somebody has already done the "reaserch" for them. It fills in the gaps they require without them having to do any hard thinking themselves about it. It's like being stuck two hours before an English exam on The Great Gatsby and you wish you had the answers and then someone sticks the cliff notes version in your hands and tells you to read it before the test and suddenly everything on the test makes sense.
"In my opinion, too many of those people are lazy thinkers and simply latch on to religion because somebody has already done the "reaserch" for them"
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You are not alone. Generally their faith is based on the hardwiring as a child and then rely on the pastor. Most do not even know the true origins of their bible. Most are not even aware of history period. They don't stop to think beyond the creation of their christ. Do not question or challenge. They cannot because deap fear ensures this. Simply put, they are ignorant of history and delusional to boot.
This is what I've been thinking for years. Thank you both for putting my thoughts into your words. Glad to know I'm not alone!
Not once growing up did a "God" make sense. And seeing how "his" followers act, I want to distance myself as much as possible.
You propose that a religious life is "easy" thinking hey? You would be wrong. Much easier to not have the hate thrown at religious people or have my job threatened because I go to church ... try again!
Keith, you are delusional. Your job was threatened because you go to church? You're the victim of hate? Religious people are the source of so much hate and have been since the dawn of history.
Just an alternate to your point- according to the Bible, we are to have "faith like a child". It doesn't mean that we don't do research, but to the previous point, I don't NEED to research or understand WHY 1+1=2, It's a simple concept and I get it. I also don't need to physically see DNA to believe that it exists. There are researchers ahead of me who can explain it to me and I get it.
Innate nature of all human beings is spiritualistic and certainly not religious. Religion is only a manifestation of underlying spiritual awareness with in the constraints of Geo Political boundaries to which the practising group belongs to.
Well, then there must be something lacking in "human nature." Sigmund Freud said that religion is a form of masturbation. That must also be part of "human nature."
Of course.
Did you not think that there was something lacking before you read this article?
I believe the quote is "Do unto yourself what you would rather do unto others".
I am the evidence of God in this world, He is the author of the information embedded on everything that is life, i.e DNA, etc. Information is non tangible matter, we can't see it but it creates many things (creator). Everything has a purpose, and nothing is hidden from me. I see it with my own eyes, from this small place in the universe, the vastness of that power. The resistance to deny the truth is also natural. There are nothing to be discovered, its is already ben revealed to me. Even death brings life. To you I say, I am God.
You havc got to be kidding.
And again, more mindless sheep lol
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Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that makes it difficult to tell the difference between real and unreal experiences, to think logically, to have normal emotional responses, and to behave normally in social situations.
As the illness continues, psychotic symptoms develop:
• False beliefs or thoughts that are not based in reality (delusions)
• Hearing, seeing, or feeling things that are not there (hallucinations)
You really shouldn't stop taking your meds without your doctor's approval.
Somebody plays World of Warcraft for way too many hours a day.
Creepy much?
Master, to what address do I send my donation. (BTW it is spelled "been". "Ben" is the name of someone or a bear. But you knew that, right?)
What a load of crap!
I tend to agree. The soupy plasma, big bang, complex organisms created out of total chaos is so unlikely (calculate those odds) as to be beyond possible. Scientists would have us believe that a random soup of particles (not even electrons, protons, neutrons at that point of time!), reached some critical mass, went through a sudden and massive expanse, formed electrons, protons, neutrons, which then formed elements, which then formed compounds, which then formed cells, etc,etc,etc, till we get to people. Yea right. You need a LOT more faith to believe THAT than God. To put total randomness into a cosmic clothes washer, put it on spin cycle for a billion years, and expect anything of such sophisticated design and order to come out is beyond belief. Even Dr. Flu (one time "leader" of atheism) and Einstein didn't carry those beliefs to the grave with them.
@Artist, for someone whose screen name is "Artist", it seems odd to me you are unaware that the creativity involved to create art is exactly what I'm telling you. Ask your own mind, where doest it comes from? You don't have the answer obviously, nor those of your kind. I do.
> Ask your own mind, where doest it comes from? You don't have the answer obviously, nor those of your kind. I do.
No, you think you have the answer. It cannot be demonstrated that you have the answer until you provide evidence that supports your opinion. Until then no one is justified into buying into what you say.
You are certainly evidence that human beings are ignorant and simplistic. Your argument is so stupid even a retarded infant would mock you for it. Seriously, you're really dumb.
@The Bobinator, the answer and evidence is everywhere you want to look. Start with a search engine I suggest. If your heart does not want to find it, you will not see it, even if it's flashing with bright neon signs in front of you. Otherwise, you will have to wait until that day comes where your conscious mind will leave your physical body. On that day there will be no more questions for you. Don't take my word for it, research studies on those who have died and come back to life, they will tell you plainly.