God is Dead AND WE HAVE KILLED HIM

Is believing in God a delusion? Let"s see what science says about religious beliefs: Two researchers (Andrew Newberg & Eugene D'Aquili) looked at the chemistry of the brain during religious experience. They discovered mystical experience is biologically, Observably, And scientifically real. ". . . The mystical experiences of our subjects. . . Were not the result of emotional mistakes or simple wishful thinking, But were associated instead with a series of observable neurological events, Which, While unusual, Are not outside the range of normal brain function. " " In the book Why God Won"t Go Away by Andrew Newberg & Eugene D'Aquili. Jesse Bering, Not a theist, Former director of the Institute of Cognition and Culture, Has published studies that theistic beliefs are natural. ". . . Belief is a "cognitive default" and that, All else being equal, In any given cultural context religious beliefs are driven into expression by a universal, Evolved, Core set of psychological intuitions present in all normal human brains. " " Jesse Bering. Studies also show that theistic beliefs are intuitive at a very young age. Young children naturally believe that things were created as they are and exist with purpose. "Children are prone to believe in supernatural beings such as spirits, Ghosts, Angels, Devils, And gods during the first four years of life due to ordinary cognitive development in ordinary human environments. " " Justin L. Barret, Cognitive scientist. This even includes children that are raised in atheist households. He found the same results for them as well. Read the book Born Believers: The Science of Children's Religious Belief by Justin L. Barret for thorough details for this particular topic. So religious beliefs are not delusional. Instead they are normal. Believing in the existence of God is far more than just a delusion, And is quite natural in our cognitive development. Research actually shows that atheism is unnatural and almost impossible for the human mind to believe. This means that the research suggest that most atheists actually believe that life has meaning and purpose. And believe in a higher being even if they don't realize it or admit it. "In a more recent study [Heywood & Bering, Unpublished], Self- described British and American atheists were asked a series of quasi- structured interview questions about their own major life events as part of an alleged (i. E. , Cover) study on autobiographical memory. Many of these individuals" answers revealed an implicit attribution of teleo-functional, Fatalistic purpose to these "turning points" in their lives. A typical example of the atheist"s reasoning in this manner is shown in a response given by a British undergraduate student who considered herself to be an unflinching non-believer. One of the most significant events in her life, She said, Was failing an important university course and losing her prestigious scholarship. It changed everything. But when she was asked why it happened to her an ambiguous question that appealed to her poor study habits, Challenges at home, Or ineptitude as much as anything else-she answered: "So that I could see that even if I failed a course, My life wouldn't actually end. " This woman is indeed an atheist, In terms of how she identifies herself. And yet like many religious believers, She sees some intrinsic meaning in her personal life events. " " Jesse Bering. Some other research suggest that atheists become emotionally aroused when daring God to do terrible things. Or try to strike Him down. This suggests that subconsciously they do believe in a higher power even if they consciously do not admit it. "In the first study, Reading the provocations addressed to God increased atheists' emotional arousal more than reading neutral statements about such things as sleep and weather. Second, God statements resulted in equal tension among atheists as reading the offensive statements (e. G. , "It"s okay to kick a puppy in the face"). Third, This same pattern of results was obtained for religious individuals. The results indicate that compared to their conviction and responses on the self-report measure, Atheists' implicit reactions to the God statements were more similar to the reactions of religious individuals. When reading the God statements in Study 2, Atheists experienced greater emotional arousal than when reading the offensive statements. Moreover, When reading the God statements, Atheists' emotional arousal increased as much as did religious individuals' arousal. Atheists also refused to say aloud the God statements and they felt the need to undo the statements equally often as religious individuals did, Although neither group refused to say statements very often or retracted statements very often. " " Atheists Become Emotionally Aroused When Daring God to Do Terrible Things page 130. One might think that they don"t believe in a God, But that doesn't necessarily connect to a true repressed belief they have or that belief might be present in the mind even without one's conscious awareness of it. "disbelief is generally the result of deliberate, Effortful work against our natural cognitive dispositions " hardly the easiest ideology to propagate. " " Pascal Boyer, Anthropologist and cognitive scientist in religion. "[disbelief] requires some hard cognitive work to reject or override the intuitions that nourish religious beliefs. " A. Norenzayan & W. M. Gervais in Cognitive Sciences 17 page 20. Another study from 2011, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Says that atheists exhibit anger towards God. Which is weird because you can't angry at things you don't think exist. I don't like the character of Allah or Romulus but that doesn't mean I hate them. Perhaps their disbelief is not really disbelief, But a rejection and hatred towards someone they know exists and disbelief is just a mental way of dealing with their anger. There's so much research on this it would be impossible to put it all on here. It is in fact atheists whose beliefs are unnatural, And the data leads to a possibility their beliefs are the ones that are delusional. Now on your statement about religion kills millions of people. I am a Christian so a couple of recent examples are Rawandan genocide (1994) and the Catholic-Protestant Conflict in N. Ireland (1980's). The real reasons for these wars had nothing to do with Christian theology, But rather they were concerned with tribalism (between the Hutus and the Tutsis) and British colonialism. There are cases where it does seem it was motivated by theological or doctrinal differences (like the Thirty Year's War 1618-48), But this is based on an incorrect and unbiblical view of the role of civil government. The role of government is not to force someone to believe in a particular religion or holy book, It is to provide safety and protection for the population (see Romans 13). What about in the twentieth-century countless millions have died under atheistic regimes (Stalin, Lenin, Pol Pot, And Mao Se Tung)? I apologize for the long response. Thank you for taking the time to read my argument.