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SteveG View Drop Down
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Points: 20604 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: Why do some people have religous beliefs?
    Posted: October 25 2015 at 13:13
A broad question perhaps, but why do some of us believe or have the need to believe in a God, an afterlife, redemption and all that goes along with Judeo-Christian beliefs?
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Points: 2619 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 13:29
I think we (I is better than we) need a "Big Hope" to "Tolerate" this hard , dark and scary life.  
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Points: 18016 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 13:40
why not
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Points: 20623 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 14:29
Oh my....I can see all the erudite answers coming very soon from all the pontificators from the other thread where religion is being pommeled.
 
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Points: 7951 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 15:34
I think the reason we have religious beliefs primarily cultural. To me it is only secondarily to satisfy an internal need or inspiration. This is not to say that it's not a very real inspiration for those who have become thoroughly enculturated by it. I'm just saying that it's the end result of a lifetime of influences.

Edited by HackettFan - October 25 2015 at 15:59
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Points: 13054 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 16:11
Christianity survives on human guilt and the fear of death. These are what drove untold wealth to monasteries via bequests in the Middle Ages (many thousands of monks were devoted to praying for specific well-off dearly departed), and guilt and death is what still fuels multi-millions being forked out to preaching hucksters to this very day. It is a holy scam that plays on age-old, primal fears.
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Points: 20623 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 16:25
After some thought perhaps the better question would be, why do some people not have religious beliefs since the majority on earth probably do.
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Points: 22767 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 16:29
According to this neurological bestseller that I read there's a part of the brain generating the specific feeling of spirituality, probably evolutionarily installed to keep a group together or something.

...and here's something from Wiki to support it:

Spiritual experiences[edit]

Neuroscientists have examined brain functioning during reported spiritual experiences[146][147] finding that certain neurotransmitters and specific areas of the brain are involved.[148][149][150][151] Moreover, experimenters have also successfully induced spiritual experiences in individuals by administering psychoactive agents known to elicit euphoria and perceptual distortions.[152][153] Conversely, religiosity and spirituality can also be dampened by electromagnetic stimulation of the brain.[154] These results have led some leading theorists to speculate that spirituality may be a benign subtype of psychosis (see).[135][155][156][157][158] Benign in the sense that the same aberrant sensory perceptions that those suffering clinical psychoses evaluate as distressingly in-congruent and inexplicable are instead interpreted by spiritual individuals as positive—as personal and meaningful transcendent experiences.[156][157]



Edited by twseel - October 25 2015 at 16:33
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Points: 698 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 16:57
 I think the answer to the question is the same as to why people have beliefs at all (not just Judeo-Christian beliefs).

There are many answers because there are many reasons for different people. It can be a cultural thing, or a traditional thing. Or a psychological need, which may enable some kind of self therapy for people.

There can philosophical reasons. I think we can agree that humans only have a very small bit of knowledge compared to what is unknown. And the unknown is reality. How do you acknowledge the unknown(reality) - by ignoring it - since it is unknown , or by forming beliefs or ideas around it? It is human nature to be able to have a concept of the unknown. Kind of similar to have an idea of the future or the past.

No matter what extent of knowledge we have, we do exist. So if we believe in ourselves we have to believe in the unknown.

But it's not just a belief in an unknown reality, it is related to ideas on what is meaningful, good and bad etc. I I don't think these things should be called "needs".

The alternative is to believe that there is no such thing as meaningfulness. That is a radical materialistic way of thinking, where there is no substance to empathy or compassion and such things. I think western culture today is pretty nihilistic. Personal success and money is what counts. There is no real worth to things, so everything becomes light entertainment in a system of consumerism and money making. There is no room for inspiration and creativity that isn't adapted to satisfy the expectations of the consumers. The only thing going forward is technology. I believe there is a lot of anxiety behind peoples motivations, because of norms and ideals that influence them.

We live in a reality, we have a self conscious intellect, that's why we can have beliefs around everything, both of what seems self-evident and what seems less obvious.
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Points: 88 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 17:45

 

Removed due to PA's deliberated act of deleting threads as alleged featuring negative behaviour posts towards others.

 

Edited by Otto9999 - October 31 2015 at 11:10
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Points: 65248 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 17:53
What if the 'answer' is not so great?   Or just dull?   What if there's an afterlife which is no different than normal tangible life?   What if we are more-or-less who we always will be?




Edited by Atavachron - October 25 2015 at 18:01
"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought."   -- John F. Kennedy
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Points: 8856 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 25 2015 at 23:56
There are three reasons why people believe or disbelieve anything: 1) They believe that evidence and logic support that decision, 2) they want to, 3) they were taught to and never questioned it.

Were you expecting any other answer?
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Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 26 2015 at 02:07
Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

After some thought perhaps the better question would be, why do some people not have religious beliefs since the majority on earth probably do.
Because they don't need them. If we start from an assumption that superstition and belief in the supernatural evolved as a survival trait then everything that follows, all the way to non-belief, is a pretty logical evolutionary sequence. Obviously a believer cannot make this assumption.
What?
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Points: 2360 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 26 2015 at 02:54
Originally posted by Ozark Soundscape Ozark Soundscape wrote:

idk, idc
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Points: 20239 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 26 2015 at 04:13
Originally posted by HackettFan HackettFan wrote:

I think the reason we have religious beliefs primarily cultural. To me it is only secondarily to satisfy an internal need or inspiration. This is not to say that it's not a very real inspiration for those who have become thoroughly enculturated (you mean enslaved, right??)  by it. I'm just saying that it's the end result of a lifetime of influences.
 
Call it that if you wish: I call it superstitions and lack of assurance
Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

After some thought perhaps the better question would be, why do some people not have religious beliefs lice & tiques since the majority on earth probably do.
 
fixed that for you!!! PigLOL
 
Now there is the erudite answer " from all the pontificators from the other thread where religion is being pommeled "  you were scared of reading of in your first intervention...
 
I know it's Monday morning, but that's hardly an excuse Big smile
 
 
 


Edited by Sean Trane - October 26 2015 at 04:15
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Points: 16130 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 26 2015 at 07:47
No idea. Seems silly to me, but each to their own. If they leave me alone I won't try and infect them with my nihilistic atheism.
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Points: 17493 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 26 2015 at 08:29
Because those people need it. Plain and simple. Whether because they were raised to need it or because they have grown to need it doesn't matter. It's just a need. 
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Points: 2808 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 26 2015 at 08:35
Let's hear it for God  Hug
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dr wu23 View Drop Down
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Points: 20623 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 26 2015 at 09:07
Originally posted by Sean Trane Sean Trane wrote:

Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

After some thought perhaps the better question would be, why do some people not have religious beliefs lice & tiques since the majority on earth probably do.
 
fixed that for you!!! PigLOL
 
Now there is the erudite answer " from all the pontificators from the other thread where religion is being pommeled "  you were scared of reading of in your first intervention...
 
I know it's Monday morning, but that's hardly an excuse Big smile
 
 
 
 
Yes...that was very erudite ...........
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Haquin
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dr wu23 View Drop Down
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Points: 20623 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 26 2015 at 09:09
Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

Originally posted by dr wu23 dr wu23 wrote:

After some thought perhaps the better question would be, why do some people not have religious beliefs since the majority on earth probably do.
Because they don't need them. If we start from an assumption that superstition and belief in the supernatural evolved as a survival trait then everything that follows, all the way to non-belief, is a pretty logical evolutionary sequence. Obviously a believer cannot make this assumption.
 
Now you know what happens when you 'assume'.
 
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One does nothing yet nothing is left undone.
Haquin
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