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from the "number-of-the-beast"-is-natural,-whole,-rational,-real,-AND-imaginary dept.
Religious beliefs are not linked to intuition or rational thinking, according to new research by the universities of Coventry and Oxford. Previous studies have suggested people who hold strong religious beliefs are more intuitive and less analytical, and when they think more analytically their religious beliefs decrease.
But new research, by academics from Coventry University's Centre for Advances in Behavioural Science and neuroscientists and philosophers at Oxford University, suggests that is not the case, and that people are not 'born believers'. The study -- which included tests on pilgrims taking part in the famous Camino de Santiago and a brain stimulation experiment -- found no link between intuitive/analytical thinking, or cognitive inhibition (an ability to suppress unwanted thoughts and actions), and supernatural beliefs.
Instead, the academics conclude that other factors, such as upbringing and socio-cultural processes, are more likely to play a greater role in religious beliefs.
[Abstract]: Supernatural Belief Is Not Modulated by Intuitive Thinking Style or Cognitive Inhibition
Would you agree with this conclusion or do you believe that there is something else that influences people's religious beliefs ?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 09 2017, @07:10PM (4 children)
One thing that religion does provide better than Science is the "spiritual" experience.
It's much harder to achieve awe through intellectual investigation than it is through manipulation of the senses (incense, meditation, choral music, large imposing cathedrals, rituals, mantras, social engagement, etc.). It's become even harder since the War on Drugs: materialist society has decided to do its best to eradicate utterly any deviation in consciousness from the supposedly "good and proper" rational problem-solving state.
There is a good argument that Human civilization sprung forth from the consumption of psychedelic substances over the course of tens of thousands of years (if not hundreds of thousands of years), and yet now you can be thrown into a cage for even thinking about that facet of being alive!
There will arise a new religion: The Church of Conciousness.
The sole purpose of this new religion will be to give people a sense of meaning, and it will place psychedelic rituals at its foundation. The first attempt to do this was made by the Hippies, but their lifestyle was too unproductive to be sustainable; however, now, society's productive people have rediscovered psychedelics; the people of Silicon Valley and the tastemakers of social discourse have begun experimenting with LSD "microdosing" and with "breakthrough" DMT trips and with sensory deprivation chambers. They are having profound experiences and innovating the materialist world that keeps our civilization ticking. They are the beginning of the Second Coming; it is their combination of practicality and spiritual experience that will be our salvation.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Thursday November 09 2017, @07:15PM (1 child)
It's become even harder since the War on Drugs: materialist society has decided to do its best to eradicate utterly any deviation in consciousness from the supposedly "good and proper" rational problem-solving state.
Notice it's the religious leaders and people who are most strongly against drug use (including alcohol), and want laws passed to prohibit it. It isn't the rational materialists who want to ban this stuff. They don't always like it, but they're rational, and they saw what happened in the US under Prohibition, so they know that punishing laws don't work.
So why do the religious leaders really want this stuff prohibited? They don't want competition. They want to be the only ones to give you that "spiritual" experience.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 09 2017, @11:19PM
That's how you indicate that you're quoting someone else.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by NewNic on Thursday November 09 2017, @07:17PM
There was an interesting piece on NPR last weekend which talked about this.
It talked about achieving "Flow", which involves a loss of reflective self-consciousness, perhaps due to overwhelming the brain's processing capability.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology) [wikipedia.org]
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 10 2017, @04:23AM
Timothy Leary wrote a book called "Start Your Own Religion" back in 1966. The book is not long and some (all?) of it is reproduced here, http://www.luminist.org/archives/start_your_own.htm [luminist.org]
When I first found the book (randomly, in the stacks of a large library) I started paging through and was hooked, sat there on the floor and read it straight through. Many years later a friend invited me to lunch with Leary, one of the sharpest people I've ever been privileged to meet. I still cherish the memories of that afternoon.