Religious belief is human nature, huge new study claims

Originally posted by grey580
Makes you wonder if we were actually a created race.
And that instinct was put in us by our creators to instantly know them and obey.

Well I am the Rebel. For NO GOD I shall kneel. Let alone obey.

We are our own gods, lets come to terms with that.

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
I absolutely think that it's human nature to want to believe in something - to think that there's a grand design and purpose to all that we don't understand - that someone is taking care of it all - that for suffering the hardships of life, there will be a wonderful and great reward someday...

Who wouldn't want that? But just because we want something, doesn't mean it's true.

I think people look at the order of nature and extrapolate that there must be a divine purpose and grand design to it all. There MUST be. I think they jump to a conclusion to explain something they don't know or understand. It's also human nature to want to know. To want to have the answers.

As the article states, atheists and the religious alike could use this study to support their positions. In my opinion, neither should. This whole idea of convincing others to believe as we believe is what brings on religious wars.

I don't want any of the above.

I want to be my own creator. I believe, yes. In myself. religion/governments/money all support the Unnatural systems, and keep unbalance.

Nature just look at nature.

I don't see a monkey praying
I don't see a ant paying road tax
I don't see the bees arguing with the queen like in politics

Nature is the law

Originally posted by ChaoticOrder
Ummm, no, that is the nature of some people, well a lot of people, but not all people, and this study clearly fails to account for people who don't fit within their little boxes. Every single human mind on this planet is designed differently, you can't quantize human nature or self aware consciousness, because it's a dynamic phenomena.

Saying that something is "human nature" doesn't necessarily mean that every person follows in line with it. It's a generalization of sorts. We're not robots. It's human nature to want to propagate the species, but there are many individuals who do not wish to breed and even dislike the idea. That doesn't mean that human propagation isn't a trait of human nature.

Even though it may be "human nature" to want one spouse, many people live perfectly happily in multi-partner households. Or it may be human nature hook up with someone of the opposite sex, but clearly, many do not prefer that. There are cultural and individual differences as well as free will and education that determine whether or not a specific person lives in complete alignment with human nature. I don't think any one human does.

I think 'wanting to believe' IS human nature, but it's a trait that I do not share with many other humans. I understand it, but I don't need or want it in my life. That doesn't mean it's not human nature.

A belief in "religion" is the result of indoctrination by your parents and community. The belief in a "higher power" is instinctual throughout nature. The understanding that there are forces greater than you and the respect and awe which they inspire has been evolving since the dawn of life. It's the reason why animals flight before storms or natural disasters. Nature yields to the greater force.

As humans, with the capacity to rationalize and manipulate, we’ve taken this natural awe and forged it into the engine of control known as Religion.

The idea that an imaginary being is living in the sky, watching over you, expecting you to live your life in accordance to his rules so that you may be rewarded, after your dead, with the gift of being in his presence to worship at his feet is NOT instinctual. In fact I would say its borderline delusional. Yet this is widely accepted in society. However, replace that “man in the sky” with a little grey man in a space ship, and all the sudden you’re a lunatic.

Originally posted by TheDebunkMachine

Originally posted by Royalkin
Could it be that we were created this way for a purpose? No, it's not survival, it's because we have a soul which longs for a better place? As a Christian I believe that we were hardwired to need a relationship with God and Jesus Christ.

Oh? Well than how about the people who lived before Jesus was born?

The Israelites.
And before the Israelites, it was those who served God faithfully up until God made Abraham that promise, right back until the time of Abel, shortly after the creation of humanity.

Just sharing the Christian perspective

Originally posted by HardbeatAcolyte

Originally posted by TheDebunkMachine

Originally posted by Royalkin
Could it be that we were created this way for a purpose? No, it's not survival, it's because we have a soul which longs for a better place? As a Christian I believe that we were hardwired to need a relationship with God and Jesus Christ.

Oh? Well than how about the people who lived before Jesus was born?

The Israelites.
And before the Israelites, it was those who served God faithfully up until God made Abraham that promise, right back until the time of Abel, shortly after the creation of humanity.

Just sharing the Christian perspective

And what about these humanbeings?

The way that I see it is this kind of conclusion is a bit of a no brainer and I for one don't need a study to tell me that humans are religion prone.

You could spend lots of time and money doing a study of humans to find out other things too like that they are prone to road rage, like a drink every now and then...

I don't think it's so much prone to religion as we are prone to search for answers. Very primitive man no doubt wondered why the light in the sky behaved as it did and why the water came down and the ground became solid and cold, etc. All these 'signs' coming from above led them to believe that there was a 'thinking' mind behind all this activity.

It's human nature to ask WHY.

Religious folks have just filled in the answer with something that makes them feel safe, secure and cared-for.

Other people (myself included) are content to let the question go unanswered until we have the means to answer it with fact. This means there may never be an answer and I'm OK with that.

Originally posted by TribeOfManyColours
And what about these humanbeings?

What about them?

reply to post by HardbeatAcolyte


They had no eduction based on indoctrination. No god(religion) is there, its all nature people
Untouched by modern world

Originally posted by TribeOfManyColours
They had no eduction based on indoctrination. No god(religion) is there, its all nature people
Untouched by modern world

Are they not inclined towards any form of spirituality? I don't think that the existence of religion (ie. organized belief systems) is necessarily reliant on contact with other societies

reply to post by HardbeatAcolyte


We don't know. If you choose to do things that support the path of love and joy, are you spiritual? Or are you following logic, based upon the feelings you have.

If you put me on a deserted island, and thought me to survive.

I dont need nothing. There is no place for religion/ or spirituality. I just want to be, and be happy

Originally posted by TribeOfManyColours
We don't know. If you choose to do things that support the path of love and joy, are you spiritual? Or are you following logic, based upon the feelings you have.

I guess it depends on what one believes. I don't think you need to be religious or spiritual to experience and share love and joy, nor to be a good person. But some who are religious/spiritual might say that they are motivated in such things by their religious/spiritual views. I think it can be both logical and spiritual, depending on the individual

Originally posted by HardbeatAcolyte

Originally posted by TribeOfManyColours
We don't know. If you choose to do things that support the path of love and joy, are you spiritual? Or are you following logic, based upon the feelings you have.

I guess it depends on what one believes. I don't think you need to be religious or spiritual to experience and share love and joy, nor to be a good person. But some who are religious/spiritual might say that they are motivated in such things by their religious/spiritual views. I think it can be both logical and spiritual, depending on the individual

I think you are right about that it depends on the individual.

reply to post by ziggyproductions05


strange i was bought up in a very religious home and never bought into it. i still dont i guess i'm not normal then?

reply to post by chooselove


Just because you didnt buy into your parents religious choices doesnt mean you dont have your own ideas on the subject. I think a lot of people are misunderstanding this.

In my view religion is something that a certain percentage of people need in order to sleep at night. It is convienent when it needs to be and also can be disregarded at will.

The mere fact that people can just "change religions" should indicate that there is something wrong with the whole line of thinking.

I personally believe we are a simulation - of a simulation - of a simulation -> infinity. That or just a small experiment of a highly advanced race. There are ethical problems that result in the experimentation part, but I can very much believe that reality could be simulated to provide much interesting information to the "simulator".

After many thousands of years, the inclination of anything that's foundational to a species's behavior (especially when it involves survival, whether individual or group) becomes inherited. Encoded within the DNA. This isn't surprising at all. This is how evolution works.

Originally posted by Ophiuchus 13

Originally posted by grey580
Makes you wonder if we were actually a created race.
And that instinct was put in us by our creators to instantly know them and obey.

And sense their presence and understand messages.

But people will believe anything and believe its god or gods. We have all these religions and people really believe theirs is the right one. So how will we know what god or creator is the right one? and why should we obey anything? i like my freewill. personally i think if we do have a nature to believe it is more of a way to make us less scared about thing we just don't understand yet.