Are humans hardwired to believe in god(s)?

[jeager106]

Belief in god(s) through out human history seems to be universal to all peoples of all cultures.
Monothieism is a compartively recent invention of the mind going back to about the 5th centruy BC.
I'm sure if that date is wrong someone will correct it for me. (thank you)
Native Americans generally believed in a "Great Spirit" and thought all things had a spirit.
Ancient Chinese had many gods.
The Ancient Greeks who invented reason also that their share of gods despite reason.
Athiests claim they have no belief in a god or gods of any sort but I'd argue that atheism itself
if a belief system tho athiest will vehemently argue that fact.
Don't believe that? Just go to any religious forum that allows the athiest veiws and note how many
atheist argue ad naseum against belief in god. Many athiests have been posting non belief for years.
If they don't believe in a god or gods why go on and on and on proving they don't believe?
So are humans hardwired to believe in something greater than mankind?

 

[Bunyip]

Belief in god(s) through out human history seems to be universal to all peoples of all cultures.

Well not really - there are a vast array of very different notions that we label god. About all they have in common is that we attach that label to them.

Monothieism is a compartively recent invention of the mind going back to about the 5th centruy BC.
I'm sure if that date is wrong someone will correct it for me. (thank you)
Native Americans generally believed in a "Great Spirit" and thought all things had a spirit.
Ancient Chinese had many gods.
The Ancient Greeks who invented reason also that their share of gods despite reason.
Athiests claim they have no belief in a god or gods of any sort but I'd argue that atheism itself
if a belief system tho athiest will vehemently argue that fact.

How can a belief you don't have be a belief system?

Don't believe that? Just go to any religious forum that allows the athiest veiws and note how many
atheist argue ad naseum against belief in god. Many athiests have been posting non belief for years.
If they don't believe in a god or gods why go on and on and on proving they don't believe?

Well because religion affects atheists.

So are humans hardwired to believe in something greater than mankind?

 

[Shadow Wolf]

If they don't believe in a god or gods why go on and on and on proving they don't believe?

Because people like you perpetuate the fallacy of things like this:

Athiests claim they have no belief in a god or gods of any sort but I'd argue that atheism itself
if a belief system tho athiest will vehemently argue that fact.

 

[psychoslice]

I don't think we are hardwired to believe in god, we are just inquisitive creatures and because there are things we can never know, we become obsessed with that, this inquisitive nature is why we are here today in such a developed world. God is just something we picked up along the way, but as we begin to know more about the world around us, our childish beliefs start to fall away, its just that many still cling to this backward superstitious belief.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I dont believe God is hardwire into our brains. I had no sense of "something more" until my outside family introduced me to the Bible. I didnt know God in any sense of the word until I went into witchcraft. It was a spin off my mothers interest. I didnt know how people enterpreted an external God until ten years ago approx. and havng experienced it until three years ago.

I think to say, if intended, that God of scripture (going by your faith) or any creator for that matter is innate is a stretch.

Every person has a calling in some degree or another to act out of thankfulness for living. If not squished by harsh christian thought where half pagans here hate the faith, misinterpreted, or just havnt experienced any abrahamic faith in a positive light, people would be grateful (utopia minded) for their life with or without God.

I also feel its innate for humans to live a pagan life. The holistic world view that we coordinate what we do, how we act, according to seasons, types of food we eat, how we say thanks I feel thats what the mind, body, and spirit want. Muslims use directionals when they pray. Christians celebrate Christ by the seasons. Its a part of us.

I dont believe God belief is innate. I just find a pattern among atheist and theist and between alike trying to find their niche. Its a human thing. I admire the simple way worship was done as a community and culture years ago. The need for fellowship (aka socialization among peers) is innate. Any God of any faith, no.

If they don't believe in a god or gods why go on and on and on proving they don't believe?
So are humans hardwired to believe in something greater than mankind?

I asked a similar question in another thread asking how is it even logical to even talk about God regardless logical reasons for doing so. Best way to compare is like two authors talking about their book characters.

A third person comes in and says "why are you talking about your main character as if he is real?" The author says, "they are just characters and I am curious why the author in front of me DOES believe his character is real." Its logical to ask about it. Then again, to entertain that belief is kind of odd in itself. Many reasons. Dont think youll find just one.

 

[The Enlightened One]

While religion predates recorded history and various forms of faith could be beneficial to survival(let's assume it's a predator and run rather than investigate), I don't see any reason to think that the belief in a god(s) is anything more than a societal construct reenforced by physiology - software that is reliant upon the various states of the physical hardware - I think this could be why people who have struggled with losing their own faith can sometimes have a hard time reconciling, or why, even in the face of evidence, others may retain a faith based belief.

 

[ImmortalFlame]

Belief in god(s) through out human history seems to be universal to all peoples of all cultures.
Monothieism is a compartively recent invention of the mind going back to about the 5th centruy BC.
I'm sure if that date is wrong someone will correct it for me. (thank you)
Native Americans generally believed in a "Great Spirit" and thought all things had a spirit.
Ancient Chinese had many gods.
The Ancient Greeks who invented reason also that their share of gods despite reason.
Athiests claim they have no belief in a god or gods of any sort but I'd argue that atheism itself
if a belief system tho athiest will vehemently argue that fact.
Don't believe that? Just go to any religious forum that allows the athiest veiws and note how many
atheist argue ad naseum against belief in god. Many athiests have been posting non belief for years.
If they don't believe in a god or gods why go on and on and on proving they don't believe?
So are humans hardwired to believe in something greater than mankind?

Yes and no.

The human brain is hard-wired in such a way as to try to understand the world around us in the simplest way that makes the most sense to us. This is why we tend to personify things, giving them identities, brains and personalities - because we have those things, and therefore it makes things simpler (when examining an extremely complicated and seemingly elaborately designed world) to believe such things are responsible for it. It's the same reason we see a face on the surface of the moon - the human brain is set up to recognise patterns, and to be able to understand and communicate ideas to other human brains. Hence, the idea of a vast, brainless universe is very difficult for our brains to accept, and the concept of life forms functioning in a way that is fundamentally different to ours is equally difficult to grasp (think of how humans tend to treat their pets like people, for example). Studies have shown that young children in particular tend to lean on explanations of the world that frame the world entirely as a reflection of their own experiences. We see things around us being built and designed for a purpose, and our society is set up in such a way that nature becomes almost an extension of that purpose, so our brains tend towards explanations which imply nature has some kind of design or purpose specifically for us, so belief in Gods can be said to be hard-wired tendency in the brain.

However, as your own post clearly shows, the exact form and nature of those Gods varies wildly depending on when and where and in what circumstances a society functions. The Gods of Ancient Greece were largely allegorical; soap-opera stand-ins for elements and aspects of nature that humans could not control, but seemed to exhibit habits and behaviours that were a reflection of our own. Did a tidal wave kill your family? They must have annoyed Poseidon. War break out in a neighbouring land? Athena must be having a fight with another God again. Lightning strike your home and burned it to the ground? Zeus was probably bored that day. These kinds of Gods were unpredictable, petty, and completely uninterested with the lives of mortal people - in other words, both a perfect reflection of nature and a perfect reflection of human nature rolled into one, a very useful metaphor. Compare and contrast them with Native American Gods (or spirits) that are largely sympathetic, nurturing, but requiring of respect - a reflection of the abundant but still untamed and dangerous environment of the American wilderness the Native Americans lived in. To respect the Gods was to respect the land. Both of these are extremely different from more contemporary, Abrahamic Gods, which tend to be far more interested in human affairs and actions.

In summary, yes, belief in God is hard-wired into the brain, but it is less an innate sense of "there is a God" than an innate desire to understand the world around us in more simple, relatable terms.

 

[Norrin-6-]

Athiests claim they have no belief in a god or gods of any sort

Yes, that's atheism by definition. Having beliefs in anything else just isn't involved when determining if you are an atheist.

but I'd argue that atheism itself
if a belief system tho athiest will vehemently argue that fact.

Again, having beliefs are not involved in determining if you are an atheist. It's just the lack of belief in deities.

Don't believe that? Just go to any religious forum that allows the athiest veiws and note how many
atheist argue ad naseum against belief in god.

Well, what about all the atheists who don't do that? You're really generalizing a whole group of people based on the actions you observe on message boards and other social media, which are bound to attract that sort of vitriol. If you are a Satanist openly online you need to expect to get hate from religious people as well.

Many athiests have been posting non belief for years.

What part of non belief signals 'belief system' to you? Many non believers have been non believers for years. If your point is that some atheists actively promote non belief, well then maybe religious people need to stop being such jerks in real life and atheists would no longer care.

If they don't believe in a god or gods why go on and on and on proving they don't believe?

You mean like humans proving they are humans? Birds proving they are birds? I don't understand the question.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

I think humans are hard-wired to look for meaning and explanation, but there is also a strong need for comfort, security and certainty.

 

[Mycroft]

No. Human aren't hardwired to be like anything. The belief in gods is simply the product of lacking education and tools to explain things.

 

[Windwalker]

Of course humans had become hardwired for religious beliefs and spiritual practices. The saying in neuroscience is that the neurons that fire together, wire together. If we repeat practices using the mind a certain way, the neuroplasticity of the brain reshapes itself towards supporting that practice so it becomes very natural to do those things. An experienced meditator for instance can enter into meditative states quite quickly, whereas an inexperienced one will struggle to do what the mind has been hardwired to do previously which is to chatter and chatter all day long. To say otherwise at this point is outdated ways of thinking about the brain, or just statements of denial from an ideological anti-religious belief.

As far as this tying to atheism, what is being said? That atheism goes against this hardwiring of the brain towards the propensity towards religious beliefs and spiritual states? I think the mistake would be to say that this hardwired tendency results in specific types of beliefs, such as believing the stories in the Bible are factually true. That would be a huge misunderstanding of this. If anything this hardwired tendency to belief would result in rejecting outdated and useless beliefs in favor of a new more supportable system of thought as the individuals were confronted with a changing world. This makes atheism an evolutionary step forward in belief. That's a hard view for many to accept because it is generally viewed it is a lack of belief and not a belief itself, but if you look deeply enough at it, it is a positive belief that ideas of external deities have no relevance. That is a belief. It is holding a vision of a higher truth that mythic structures do not support the rational mind. So in this sense, atheism is in fact a belief. It is a belief that beliefs in gods don't serve us.

So understood in this light, is atheism acting in service of the evolutionary hardwiring of spiritual tendencies? I would say yes. Because it frees someone from the shackles of outmoded systems of thought that hold back the exploration of human potentials, both in our industry and in our imagination putting ourselves out into the cosmos. In other words, the tendency is to know the world and to know ourselves in it That is a spiritual quest. It has nothing to do with mythic figures, which are simply symbols humans have put on these as a way of talking about them within mythic-systems. The systems have changed, but the tendency has not, as it is hardwired into us.

 

[Norrin-6-]

That's a hard view for many to accept because it is generally viewed it is a lack of belief and not a belief itself, but if you look deeply enough at it, it is a positive belief that ideas of external deities have no relevance. That is a belief.

Ideas of external deities have no relevance to what? If you're referring to things like having the capacity to live a moral life, et al., then I totally get you. Ideas of external deities are not prerequisite for a lot of things people credit them for, but I hesitate to call them irrelevant.

 

[Thief]

Definitely hardwired to see faces....even when there are none.
It's reflex.
Without that ability you could find yourself face to face with something that wants to eat you.
You would fail to spot the danger soon enough.

That same ability could easily trick the unsuspecting to think they saw someone....and did not.

Mix that with danger, calamity, natural forces....etc....

But believing in God is not a reflex.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

Belief in god(s) through out human history seems to be universal to all peoples of all cultures.
Monothieism is a compartively recent invention of the mind going back to about the 5th centruy BC.
I'm sure if that date is wrong someone will correct it for me. (thank you)
Native Americans generally believed in a "Great Spirit" and thought all things had a spirit.
Ancient Chinese had many gods.
The Ancient Greeks who invented reason also that their share of gods despite reason.
Athiests claim they have no belief in a god or gods of any sort but I'd argue that atheism itself
if a belief system tho athiest will vehemently argue that fact.
Don't believe that? Just go to any religious forum that allows the athiest veiws and note how many
atheist argue ad naseum against belief in god. Many athiests have been posting non belief for years.
If they don't believe in a god or gods why go on and on and on proving they don't believe?
So are humans hardwired to believe in something greater than mankind?

We all believe in something, theism or atheism, God or the flying spaghetti multiverse.. framing our beliefs as a disbelief of the alternative, is just a way to try to avoid burden of proof, claim a default answer.. 'I'm right till you prove me wrong'

Most people of faith are willing to acknowledge and defend their own beliefs on their own merits, blind faith is faith which does not recognize itself?

 

[Aupmanyav]

"Are humans hardwired to believe in god(s)?"
They are hard-wired to jump at the slightest hint of danger to their lives. Then, they look for help from their fellow men and God (imagined God-father or God-mother in case of some Hindus).

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

People are hardwired to presume Agency.

See Atran.​

 

[Thief]

presume Something Greater than yourself?.....seems natural to me.

 

[Rick O'Shez]

The saying in neuroscience is that the neurons that fire together, wire together. If we repeat practices using the mind a certain way, the neuroplasticity of the brain reshapes itself towards supporting that practice so it becomes very natural to do those things. An experienced meditator for instance can enter into meditative states quite quickly, whereas an inexperienced one will struggle to do what the mind has been hardwired to do previously which is to chatter and chatter all day long.

True, but I'm not sure what that has to do with belief in God being hard-wired.

 

[jonathan180iq]

So are humans hardwired to believe in something greater than mankind?

Nope.

 

[Orbit]

I'm surprised no one has brought this up, but evolutionary psychology research into the "theory of mind" says that humans have "attribution bias" whereby we assume supernatural agency where no other agency can be seen, and this is the basis that religions build upon.