Why Atheists Don’t Really Exist

[Nakosis]

But for Hutson and others who are perplexed at the dogged persistence of “magical thinking,” it gets worse. Hutson cites studies that show the persistent belief in God is not merely understood as some distant Deistic First Cause but, rather, of a God who cares, a God who judges and a God who might punish. Deep in our bones we are intrinsically theistic. He writes, “Even atheists seem to fear a higher power. A study published last year found that self-identified nonbelievers began to sweat when reading aloud sentences asking God to do terrible things (‘I dare God to make my parents drown’). Not only that, they stressed out just as much as believers did.”
Why Atheists Don’t Really Exist

It seems it is hard to escape the primal feeling that there is something out there we'd rather not **** off.

 

[danieldemol]

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But for Hutson and others who are perplexed at the dogged persistence of “magical thinking,” it gets worse. Hutson cites studies that show the persistent belief in God is not merely understood as some distant Deistic First Cause but, rather, of a God who cares, a God who judges and a God who might punish. Deep in our bones we are intrinsically theistic. He writes, “Even atheists seem to fear a higher power. A study published last year found that self-identified nonbelievers began to sweat when reading aloud sentences asking God to do terrible things (‘I dare God to make my parents drown’). Not only that, they stressed out just as much as believers did.”
Why Atheists Don’t Really Exist

It seems it is hard to escape the primal feeling that there is something out there we'd rather not **** off.

So an orthodox religious magazine makes an attribution to a so called scientific study without providing a citation. Colour me unsurprised.

In my opinion.

 

[icehorse]

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But for Hutson and others who are perplexed at the dogged persistence of “magical thinking,” it gets worse. Hutson cites studies that show the persistent belief in God is not merely understood as some distant Deistic First Cause but, rather, of a God who cares, a God who judges and a God who might punish. Deep in our bones we are intrinsically theistic. He writes, “Even atheists seem to fear a higher power. A study published last year found that self-identified nonbelievers began to sweat when reading aloud sentences asking God to do terrible things (‘I dare God to make my parents drown’). Not only that, they stressed out just as much as believers did.”
Why Atheists Don’t Really Exist

It seems it is hard to escape the primal feeling that there is something out there we'd rather not **** off.

I'd guess that it's hard for humans to fight against a lifetime of religious propaganda.

 

[Revoltingest]

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But for Hutson and others who are perplexed at the dogged persistence of “magical thinking,” it gets worse. Hutson cites studies that show the persistent belief in God is not merely understood as some distant Deistic First Cause but, rather, of a God who cares, a God who judges and a God who might punish. Deep in our bones we are intrinsically theistic. He writes, “Even atheists seem to fear a higher power. A study published last year found that self-identified nonbelievers began to sweat when reading aloud sentences asking God to do terrible things (‘I dare God to make my parents drown’). Not only that, they stressed out just as much as believers did.”
Why Atheists Don’t Really Exist

It seems it is hard to escape the primal feeling that there is something out there we'd rather not **** off.

I've heard such arguments before.
Perhaps it validates them to believe
that everyone is fundamentally like
them, but that atheists are just
defective believers.

 

[Vinayaka]

I've heard such arguments before.
Perhaps it validates them to believe
that everyone is fundamentally like
them, but that atheists are just
defective believers.

Operative word being 'defective'. To those guys, I'm very defective. "If you ain't with us, you is defective."

 

[Viker]

It seems it is hard to escape the primal feeling that there is something out there we'd rather not **** off.

Azathoth is cranky.

 

[Viker]

Instead of just claiming, why can't, in articles like this, citations of studies be provided?

It's just more of the same straw man tactics.

 

[Twilight Hue]

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But for Hutson and others who are perplexed at the dogged persistence of “magical thinking,” it gets worse. Hutson cites studies that show the persistent belief in God is not merely understood as some distant Deistic First Cause but, rather, of a God who cares, a God who judges and a God who might punish. Deep in our bones we are intrinsically theistic. He writes, “Even atheists seem to fear a higher power. A study published last year found that self-identified nonbelievers began to sweat when reading aloud sentences asking God to do terrible things (‘I dare God to make my parents drown’). Not only that, they stressed out just as much as believers did.”
Why Atheists Don’t Really Exist

It seems it is hard to escape the primal feeling that there is something out there we'd rather not **** off.

Like an alien race out there that might find us tasty and delicious?

I'd find that a bit perturbing.

 

[dybmh]

Here's the study referenced in the OP.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271670348_Atheists_Become_Emotionally_Aroused_When_Daring_God_to_Do_Terrible_Things

Scroll down to read the whole thing.

 

[Sedim Haba]

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But for Hutson and others who are perplexed at the dogged persistence of “magical thinking,” it gets worse. Hutson cites studies that show the persistent belief in God is not merely understood as some distant Deistic First Cause but, rather, of a God who cares, a God who judges and a God who might punish. Deep in our bones we are intrinsically theistic. He writes, “Even atheists seem to fear a higher power. A study published last year found that self-identified nonbelievers began to sweat when reading aloud sentences asking God to do terrible things (‘I dare God to make my parents drown’). Not only that, they stressed out just as much as believers did.”
Why Atheists Don’t Really Exist

It seems it is hard to escape the primal feeling that there is something out there we'd rather not **** off.

"There are no atheists in foxholes" - Ernie Pyle

No atheists in foxholes: WWII vets remain religious | Cornell Chronicle

In World War II, men in intense combat were more than twice as likely to pray as those who were not. And the more that the veterans disliked the war, the more religious they were 50 years later.

news.cornell.edu

 

[mikkel_the_dane]

Here's the study referenced in the OP.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271670348_Atheists_Become_Emotionally_Aroused_When_Daring_God_to_Do_Terrible_Things

Scroll down to read the whole thing.

Yeah, and if we stop to view religion through the lens of a theistic God and view religion as an effect of nature and nurture, then at least some atheists are religious, but not theists.

 

[Mock Turtle]

I'd guess that it's hard for humans to fight against a lifetime of religious propaganda.

And that wasn't mentioned as the fifth reason inexplicably - in General Discussion.

Anyway, it perhaps means that there are more agnostics than atheists.

 

[Valjean]

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But for Hutson and others who are perplexed at the dogged persistence of “magical thinking,” it gets worse. Hutson cites studies that show the persistent belief in God is not merely understood as some distant Deistic First Cause but, rather, of a God who cares, a God who judges and a God who might punish. Deep in our bones we are intrinsically theistic. He writes, “Even atheists seem to fear a higher power. A study published last year found that self-identified nonbelievers began to sweat when reading aloud sentences asking God to do terrible things (‘I dare God to make my parents drown’). Not only that, they stressed out just as much as believers did.”
Why Atheists Don’t Really Exist

It seems it is hard to escape the primal feeling that there is something out there we'd rather not **** off.

That doesn't make sense. Who was this Hutson? (link doesn't load) What were they investigating? What was their sample demographic and methodology?

A caring, lawgiving, judgemental god, concerned with human affairs, is an Abrahamic thing, and these results don't reflect any thinking I'm aware of.

Fix link, please.

 

[Valjean]

I'd guess that it's hard for humans to fight against a lifetime of religious propaganda.

Against a lifetime of their particular religious propaganda.

 

[Subduction Zone]

That doesn't make sense. Who was this Hutson? (link doesn't load) What were they investigating? What was their sample demographic and methodology?

A caring, lawgiving, judgemental god, concerned with human affairs, is an Abrahamic thing, and these results don't reflect any thinking I'm aware of.

Fix link, please.

The link worked for me and it also has a link to the article by Hutson that he was talking about. Here is Hutson's article:

The Science of Superstition

No one is immune to magical thinking.

www.theatlantic.com

Hutson found that even scientists are not immune from "magical thinking" if one forced them to answer with a time constraint. That is not much of a find. When pushed to answer quickly people will give inaccurate answers at times. Does that mean that they are not atheists because the more animal part of our brains are not totally rational? I do not think so.

 

[danieldemol]

Here's the study referenced in the OP.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271670348_Atheists_Become_Emotionally_Aroused_When_Daring_God_to_Do_Terrible_Things

Scroll down to read the whole thing.

Researchgate is a social networking site.

From Wikipedia;
'ResearchGate has been criticized for failing to provide safeguards against "the dark side of academic writing", including such phenomena as fake publishers, "ghost journals", publishers with "predatory" publication fees, and fake impact ratings.[39] It has also been criticized for copyright infringement of published works.[40][9][41]'

Source: ResearchGate - Wikipedia

What i make of that is that there is no guarantee it is a peer reviewed scientific paper just cause it appeared on researchgate.

In my opinion.

 

[Heyo]

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But for Hutson and others who are perplexed at the dogged persistence of “magical thinking,” it gets worse. Hutson cites studies that show the persistent belief in God is not merely understood as some distant Deistic First Cause but, rather, of a God who cares, a God who judges and a God who might punish. Deep in our bones we are intrinsically theistic. He writes, “Even atheists seem to fear a higher power. A study published last year found that self-identified nonbelievers began to sweat when reading aloud sentences asking God to do terrible things (‘I dare God to make my parents drown’). Not only that, they stressed out just as much as believers did.”
Why Atheists Don’t Really Exist

It seems it is hard to escape the primal feeling that there is something out there we'd rather not **** off.

Have to dig up Michael Shermer's TED talk again:

Most of us are born to be superstitious. (There are mutants, I'm one of them.)
And if the natural superstition is enforced by religious childhood indoctrination, we have to unlearn it as adults. And even those who do that successfully on an intellectual basis are sometimes still prone to the emotional baggage.

 

[Hermit Philosopher]

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But for Hutson and others who are perplexed at the dogged persistence of “magical thinking,” it gets worse. Hutson cites studies that show the persistent belief in God is not merely understood as some distant Deistic First Cause but, rather, of a God who cares, a God who judges and a God who might punish. Deep in our bones we are intrinsically theistic. He writes, “Even atheists seem to fear a higher power. A study published last year found that self-identified nonbelievers began to sweat when reading aloud sentences asking God to do terrible things (‘I dare God to make my parents drown’). Not only that, they stressed out just as much as believers did.”
Why Atheists Don’t Really Exist

It seems it is hard to escape the primal feeling that there is something out there we'd rather not **** off.

Would you say that this is true about the atheists you know?

I was raised atheist, in a secular society. We never thought in religious terms. Religion was something that some people “still” did and we didn’t truly understand why, but we also didn’t care.

Religious people kept their religions to themselves and we never asked what they were up to; we just let them be.

At school, I had no religious peers.
We’d study “History of Religions” and we’d do so like one may study “Greek Mythology”: never thinking that any of it could possibly be considered as “real”; let alone “true”.

I am old enough now to say that, I myself, have been of faith for most of my life, but I remember very clearly what being an atheist was like and one did not go around worrying about some supernatural “thing” potentially being angry about stuff - even as a person of faith, I don’t do that, actually. Do you?

Humbly,
Hermit

 

[Colt]

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But for Hutson and others who are perplexed at the dogged persistence of “magical thinking,” it gets worse. Hutson cites studies that show the persistent belief in God is not merely understood as some distant Deistic First Cause but, rather, of a God who cares, a God who judges and a God who might punish. Deep in our bones we are intrinsically theistic. He writes, “Even atheists seem to fear a higher power. A study published last year found that self-identified nonbelievers began to sweat when reading aloud sentences asking God to do terrible things (‘I dare God to make my parents drown’). Not only that, they stressed out just as much as believers did.”
Why Atheists Don’t Really Exist

It seems it is hard to escape the primal feeling that there is something out there we'd rather not **** off.

The ego of modern people “fear” being held by a strong religion.

 

[Brickjectivity]

I become stressed when watching scary films, even though I know they are not real. I suspect this is similar and does not prove that there are no atheists.