I feel that the term “cognitive dissonance” applies to why people still believe in a God. We or rather they ( I never did believe in the first place ) grow up in a comfort zone of knowledge about the world. It explains, assuming one does not think too much, “why is the sky blue?” type questions when we are little, and “what happened to Grandma?”
I often feel the that the real tragedy are the moderate religious as they at least acknowledge there is something wrong with a literal interpretation of ancient scriptures and try to explain it away. This causes a cognitive dissonance, or rationalizing to make it work for them.
Fundamentalists on the other hand I feel are not acting even in this fashion. They totally deny reality.
Does anyone here have any insight that is different?
Posted: February 16th 2009
Eric_PK
I think it’s much simpler than that.
Both the religion and the level of religiousity of a person are hugely correlated with what their parents believe. People believe what they believe because they were indoctrinated in the beliefs before they could make a rational choice, and the vast majority of people never really consider the source of their beliefs. They just believe, and pass on their beliefs to their children.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned interacting with theists, it’s that the vast majority of them only get religious information from their church, and that means that the average atheist is far better informed about christianity than the average christian.
That’s why you see more atheism among college-educated people. It’s not that they’re smarter, it’s because they’ve been exposed to an environment that encourages rational introspection of beliefs.
People turn to religion in hard times. There’s some interesting recent research that suggests that the differences in belief between the US and Western Europe can be explained solely by the social safety net that is present in europe and absent in the US. The person in the US who has a medical issue and can’t pay is more likely to turn to god for solace than the european who has socialized health care.
Posted: February 26th 2009
Reed Braden www
People have a variety of reasons for believing in a god, but I think most of the common reasons can be simplified to fear of death.
No one (well, very few people) actually wants to die. The idea that something intrinsic about human cognitive function (commonly mislabeled spirit, soul, life force, ghost, etc.) survives death and either carries on in another world or plane of existence or stays on this planet in one form or another is prevalent throughout most major religions and is a clear marker of the fear of death. We’re so afraid of our lives ending that even some of the most educated people still ask the question, “What happens when we die,” even though the answer is obvious: When we die, we will be dead… as in, not alive in any way, shape or form… because that’s kind of what death freaking is. It’s so scary to many people that they need (or feel that they need) to cling to a belief that they will still exist as a cognitive being after they die, no matter how silly that belief is.
Of those who do not fall into this category, I would guess the overwhelming majority were brought up to believe in a god and never had the motivation or opportunity to question it.
It doesn’t differ much from your thoughts on the subject, but it expands on it a bit. Thank you for letting me waste your time.
Posted: February 26th 2009
logicel
Though I agree with your synopsis, I would like to point out that compartmentalization is an ability of our brains which can come in handy. For example, we know we are mortal, and yet we can put that reality on the back burner so we can get up in the morning and live. The very admired pilot, Chesley Sullenberger, was able to put the highly probable impending death of himself and others aside so he could function well enough to save them all.
As with all of our human traits, they can also become a royal pain in the arse. The aspect of compartmentalization that is negative is when it becomes maladaptive. Denial of reality and the rationalizing of reality so egregiously that it becomes a shadow of its former self are representations of maladaptive behavior. Since we are social animals, we will often encourage such behavior in each other. Hence, co-enabling each other to remain in the ostrich stance can become codified culturally as in religion, where you have even atheists saying that the religious boat must not be rocked.
Posted: February 25th 2009