[quote=142857
So there are obviously other reasons for belief in God that go deeper than that. I'm sure that we will never agree on exactly the nature of those reasons. But whatever those reasons are, further scientific advancement may not have a big effect on whether people believe in God or not.
[/quote]

I think the reasons so many humans believe in god (and how the idea evolved in the first place) is due to the fact that homo sapiens is wired to be a social animal, living in big herds. To genuflect to the Big Boss Alpha male of the herd is to survive and pass on your genes, whereas if you take umbrage that one Big Boss Alpha male has access to more resources than you, you will either take over from him by fighting, or get yourself killed in the attempt.  Females, of course, will attempt to placate, groom and mate with him, and will have fights amongst themselves as to who will be his Next Squeeze.

Okay, so how does this become a larger faith in god?  Well, assuming for years you geneflected, groomed, screwed, fought and eventually killed the last Big Boss Alpha male, you are now the Boss.  Yet, with your pre-disposition of generations of genuflecting ancestors, you STILL believe in an Alpha male who is above you.  You have weaker opponents who don't want to get beaten up but would like the power of telling the Alpha male what to do.  Bingo, the priesthood is born.  

Aspies, tending to be more of the "loner variant" of the species, do seem to have more trouble in agreeing with the rest of the herd about an Alpha male (or female, mother goddess worship has been big at times in prehistory, mummy being the first "god" every child encounters.)  

Alison

This post was last modified: 05-21-2011 03:22 AM by Alison.

Oh, wanted to add: I read studies in New Scientist, I think it was, where MRI scans were given to religious people and long-term atheists while religious messages were shown to them.  In the religious people, areas of the brain lit up, where it did nothing for the atheists, so it seems that people who really do believe in god or gods, or whatever, get a real immediate reward of happy hormones. Which goes back to feeling "a part" of the herd, and therefore calm and happy and less likely to cause trouble where the herd as a whole would suffer.

Interestingly, the study went on to do the same with dogs, who are also social animals.  When the dog's owner could be seen by the animal, the same areas of the brain as those in religious humans lit up.  Other humans either appeared neutral to the brain or else there was an aggressive territorial response.  So it seems that dogs live with their god every day of their lives.  

Alison

This post was last modified: 05-21-2011 03:30 AM by Alison.

Do you know which region that was?

I've noticed that dogs seem to fall into two categories:
(1) Those that think their human owner is God.
(2) Those who think their owner is slow and stupid but has some sort of magical access to food. A lot like a canine version of a cargo cult.

It was a while back that I read it.  I would try to dig it out so I could verify it and perhaps post it so others could read, but I'm flat out like a lizard drinking at the moment with essays.  I shouldn't even be on here, but I need my daily dose of AFF with my morning cuppa!
Alison

no wonder,people are less faithful these days

Which people?