Many religious people do argue that there is an instinct toward religious belief - the “God shaped hole”, if you’ve heard the expression. There are stories of people feeling an intense sense that there must be some higher power, or something more than their daily life, although obviously they won’t fixate on Christianity without prior exposure.
Many religious people do argue that there is an instinct toward religious belief - the “God shaped hole”, if you’ve heard the expression
I’ve heard this argument for a certain kind of spirituality. And that’s one reason I’m loath to hate on people for being “religious” in the abstract or to dump on “belief in god” as this singular root of moral failing. Just feels like you’re going after people for being neurodivergent.
obviously they won’t fixate on Christianity without prior exposure
Right. Shy of the grand standing bullshitters and would-be prophets, I suppose.
There was a time when I thought that the arrival of easy global communication and information would lead to the decline of religion, but I don’t anymore. Christianity may have declined to some extent, but a lot of the people leaving the church(s) have just replaced it with vague spirituality, homebrew beliefs, or other looser faiths.
These days I’m much more inclined to take seriously the idea that supernatural belief is instinctual. Materialist atheism will, unfortunately, probably remain a fringe belief.
There was a time when I thought that the arrival of easy global communication and information would lead to the decline of religion, but I don’t anymore.
I’d argue the biggest harm to organized religion has been the mass migration caused by the globalization of trade. People move too frequently and travel too far to reliably find communities that share their views.
Christianity may have declined to some extent, but a lot of the people leaving the church(s) have just replaced it with vague spirituality, homebrew beliefs, or other looser faiths.
Sure. People are sinking to a lower common denominator of generic mysticism and superstition. But that doesn’t preclude materialism, humanism, or rationality. It’s a spirituality of the gaps. When you don’t have good data, you go with what you have. And that often boils down to rumor and gut-feeling.
These days I’m much more inclined to take seriously the idea that supernatural belief is instinctual. Materialist atheism will, unfortunately, probably remain a fringe belief.
Even the most staunch materialist atheists fall back on habits and heuristics and hearsay when that’s all they’ve got to work with. I wouldn’t call that instinctual so much as the rationality of last resort.
Many religious people do argue that there is an instinct toward religious belief - the “God shaped hole”, if you’ve heard the expression. There are stories of people feeling an intense sense that there must be some higher power, or something more than their daily life, although obviously they won’t fixate on Christianity without prior exposure.
I’ve heard this argument for a certain kind of spirituality. And that’s one reason I’m loath to hate on people for being “religious” in the abstract or to dump on “belief in god” as this singular root of moral failing. Just feels like you’re going after people for being neurodivergent.
Right. Shy of the grand standing bullshitters and would-be prophets, I suppose.
There was a time when I thought that the arrival of easy global communication and information would lead to the decline of religion, but I don’t anymore. Christianity may have declined to some extent, but a lot of the people leaving the church(s) have just replaced it with vague spirituality, homebrew beliefs, or other looser faiths.
These days I’m much more inclined to take seriously the idea that supernatural belief is instinctual. Materialist atheism will, unfortunately, probably remain a fringe belief.
I’d argue the biggest harm to organized religion has been the mass migration caused by the globalization of trade. People move too frequently and travel too far to reliably find communities that share their views.
Sure. People are sinking to a lower common denominator of generic mysticism and superstition. But that doesn’t preclude materialism, humanism, or rationality. It’s a spirituality of the gaps. When you don’t have good data, you go with what you have. And that often boils down to rumor and gut-feeling.
Even the most staunch materialist atheists fall back on habits and heuristics and hearsay when that’s all they’ve got to work with. I wouldn’t call that instinctual so much as the rationality of last resort.