"Offbreed" wrote in message
...
Barney-Killer wrote:

If it wasn't all so tragic, it would make me die from laughter...
If the human race continues to believe in such utter nonsense, then we
are indeed doomed to self-destruction...

While I pretty much agree with what you have said, this is where you
have not thought of a question.

Why have so many believed such silly things for so long?

My conclusion is that some people are just wired to need to have a
focus. (And, incidentely, they cannot accept that some people do not
need to believe. They are totally close minded on that subject.) They
can no more go without a belief structure to "have faith in" than they
can go without food, water, or air. Cut them free from Christianity, and
they will find something else, such as sports, a hobby or profession,
some loony cult (such as Islam), or some political cause (such as
Communism or Socialism).

All in all, I think it best to leave them alone as much as possible,
especially if their religious beliefs are relatively innocuous. If and
when they become a problem, like the Moslems are today, smack them down
or kill them. Don't mess with the ones that are not a problem.

There's some interesting new psych research on the subject, which suggests
that part of belief is based on a human tendency to put the most positive
face on all outcomes, both good and bad. An accumulation of positive
interpretations of events ("mother was suffering so much, it's providential
that she died quickly...") leads to a sense of intelligent guidance.

This adds to some earlier research concerning anxiety over things like fear
of dying, inexplicable events in the physical world that are most easily
explained as the product of supernatural intelligence, etc. It's an
interesting field, but it sounds like a lot of guesswork, so far.

--
Ed Huntress