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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 RedIsNotGreen on Friday November 10 2017, @07:06AM (1 child)
Remember when you were young, and it seemed like your mom/dad had all the answers, knew everything, and could always be counted to comfort and protect you? Maybe not, not everyone is so lucky. But for many people, religion offers something close to that experience of being protected, of having a friend they can always turn to that will listen without judging and comfort them, telling them that everything is going to be OK, even if it isn't that way right now. Of course, this type of friend is a great ally to have if you're trying to control the masses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 10 2017, @03:52PM
Yea, it went a little something like this: "God says it is ok if I stick my penis in your 4-year old asshole. Remember, you can't question God. And God says don't tell your mother. You have to do what God says."
(Score: 1) by jman on Friday November 10 2017, @02:17PM
However, any new system needs "seed" data, so it would make sense that as consciousness evolved, it settled on using ingrained physical behavior which had been written into our DNA to initially populate the database.
Under that scenario, God would be a representation of the alpha male, the ultimate authority in charge of the group's social interactions. An Uber Alpha, as it were.
(Doesn't hurt either, that having a made-up boss gives the *actual* alpha an out when things don't go right.)
Of course, the corollary of this thinking means that we are actually all alphas, which would certainly explains why so many more humans get into such crazy fights than our other mammalian cousins.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday November 10 2017, @05:30PM
It's a flawed conclusion because it is a flawed premise. The spirit is not of the mind nor body though inextricably tied to them during life. So why would responses in faith be controlled by the mind or body? Influenced, probably. Controlled, no, not at its' root.
This sig for rent.