"John R. Carroll" wrote in message
m...
Ed Huntress wrote:
"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,
Do you have a reference that I can search for this material?

There's something on it in this month's _Science_. although I haven't read
that version. If you have access, look for "Daniel Gilbert." Here's an
online news summary in the Salt Lake Tribune:

http://sltrib.com/faith/ci_3184822

Gilbert wrote a psych journal article about it:

Gilbert DT, Brown RP, Pinel EC, Wilson TD. The illusion of external agency.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2000 Nov;79(5):690-700.

Here's the abstract, on PubMed:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Citation

--
Ed Huntress