From: ikonen@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Ian Konen)
Subject: Re: The origin of Religion
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 22:35:22 GMT

In <92310.092000J5J@psuvm.psu.edu> John A. Johnson <J5J@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:

>In article <zlsiida.358@fs1.mcc.ac.uk>, zlsiida@fs1.mcc.ac.uk (dave budd) says:
>>
>>In article <1992Nov2.204911.20068@news.acns.nwu.edu>
>>ikonen@casbah.acns.nwu.edu
>>(Ian Konen) writes:
>>
>>>    How reasonable is it to expect a person with almost no scientific        e
>>knowledg
>>>to spontaneosly come up with the concept of god(s)?  Specifically the person n
>>i
>>   [munched]
>>>caveman had never even heard of the concept of god(s), how likely would it be
>>>for him to come up with it himself?  Obviously (to an atheist at least) it
>>
>>Our caveman is trying to explain observed phenomena.  Superficially, many
>>phenomena look as though some   intent   is involved. This implies
>>personality or something like it.  And then it is but a short step.....
>>
>Precisely.  Some anthropologists have suggested that the rapid increase in
>our species' brain size was in part an effect of coping with increasingly
>complex interpersonal relationships and social structure.  One result is that
>our brains are predisposed to perceive and conceive in personal, human terms.
>This is evident in anthropomorphic perception (seeing human qualities in
>animals) and physiognomic perception (seeing human qualities in nonliving
>aspects of nature).  Both, but particularly the latter, indicate that human
>beings are vulnerable to religious thinking.

Interesting point, I'd never thought of it that way, but it makes a lot of
sense.

>IMHO, this business of children being natural atheists is an unsubstantiated
>bit of wishful thinking on the part of some atheists.  

Okay, I guess I shouldn't have presumed to speak for most atheists on this
point, since most of the replys seem to dissagree with me.  I made that
assumption because of posts I've seen here saying that most theists are so
because their parents were theists also, which I agree with.  I will concede
that I am probably biased, being a college student near a big urban center. 
Liberalism, rebelliosness, critical thinking, and a large ethno-religious
diversity are all present here in greater concentation than the average region
in the U.S.  I would also suspect that the age group represented here has a
higher percentage of atheists than the nation overall. (This is merely the
impression I have from experience...I'm not claiming to be able to prove it.)
However, despite my bias, I still think the habit of being theistic holds more
people to theism than any other reason.  How many people do you know who say
something to the extent of "I don't buy into all this organized religion crap.
 Yea, sure, I think there's a god, but I'm sure he doesn't care how much money
I give the church.  I mean, if there's no god, then where did the universe
come from?"  I would bet that these people started as ordinary Christians or
Jews (remember, I'm talking about the U.S. here...Hindus, Muslims, etc. are
too much of a minority for me to be confident talking about them) with a solid
belief in God and the bible/talmud, who gradually lost faith in most aspects
of their religion, but wouldn't take the final step and deny the existence of
God.  Had they started with the premise that God doesn't exist, I don't think
many of them would make the reverse transition.  Oh well, enough babbling.
						Ian Konen



And the Jungian ideas
>of innate, archetypal, religious images are not just claptrap.  Look around
>you at the universality of religion.  We know Neanderthal was religious.
>Atheism is a struggle to achieve, as it contradicts certain aspects of human
>nature.  I wish that getting rid of religion were as easy as educating people
>properly.  It is not.