Originally posted by Syren
'a' SMALL LETTER
Or more commonly referred to as "Lower Case." 😄
To me, this appears to be atheist pushing their beliefs (forgive the use of the word "beliefs"😉 on those who have faith. Which makes me laugh as most athests would feel offended when a religious/spiritual person questions their lack of faith.
If Gods existance is proven to be false, life will be more miserable then ever. There will be nothing left to look forward to. Granted, there will be a life that you live, but you should live life to its fullest in the first place.
Too much time is exhausted on tring to disprove a creator when that could be used to live a full life. If there was not a God, it would be necessary to invent one in the first place.
Please bare in mind that this is the mere opinion of a single man, with some assitence from Voltaire. 😄
In the case of epileptics, this may be the reason for many of them becoming obsessed with religion. The researchers came upon these cerebral revelations in the course of studying the brain patterns of certain people with epilepsy. Epileptics who suffer a particular type of seizure are often intensely religious, and are known to report an unusual number of spiritually-oriented visions and obsessions.
Originally posted by Syren Uh, no. I have two members of my direct family who are epileptic and both are stolid atheists. Count them, that's both. Are they to be considered exceptions to this apparent rule? Pfffft.......
I personally know epileptics who are very relgious... maybe your relatives are the exceptions? It doesnt say all epileptics have this. You know 2 people with epilepsy... not a sufficient number to say that being highly religous is not something experienced by a large number of epileptics. Just not experienced by two. Not a scientific study... 2 people.
Scientists, philosophers and atheists have long argued that God and spirituality are constructs of the human mind
I'm an atheist and although I would argue that God is indeed a figment of the imagination, I would not say that it is from a designated part of the anatomy, like the brain. Isn't the brain a totally different thing to the imagination?
If your immagination doesnt originate from your brain, where does it come from then? 😛 The "God Module" is not really a "module" as its name impies, but rather a part of the brain that becomes more active when experiencing religion. Just as parts of your brain become more active while experiencing pain or remembering something from your childhood.
Their findings tentatively suggest that we as a species are genetically programmed to believe in God.
No, we are a species genetically programmed to believe in things that allow us to live our lives more comfortably. If we had no faith in anything we would be even more likely to question life than we are now.
If we have a part of our brain that makes us think that we are talking to God how does that make us not predisposed to have some religious thought? I dont think your comment directly contradicts that statement. Religion was created to answer questions like "where did we come from?" "why are we here?" etc... These answers that Religion gave them, regardless of whether they are true or not, makes them more secure because they "have faith in something"... Religion helps a lot of people more comfortably, not me, but alot of people.
"There may be dedicated neural machinery in the temporal lobes concerned with religion," the research team announced at a conference for the Society for Neuroscience. "This may have evolved to impose order and stability on society."
I am willing to bet that this entire team of researchers convene every single Sunday in their custom built laboratory-cum-church. [/B]
I dont really get what you were saying here.
Anyway... If you read a little deeper, you would see that the "God Module" did not just encourage Christianity, which we both dont believe in, but also it says that it caused visions in those who believe in Aliens that are typical of those who believe they are abducted by extraterrestrials... meaning that it doesnt mean that we are going to have to be religious because we have this part of our brain, we might just believe really hard in aliens. But, if people have this part of their brain that makes them prone to have these visions or these beliefs... people are more likely to accept stories about God and Jesus, because "they feel like them working within themselves" and they "feel god working through them, etc..." So yeah, I think if that part of the brain does create these feelings of God within us we are more likely to believe in that, than if we didnt feel the presence of god in us... it has nothing really to do with whether he really exists or if it is just how we percieve him. It just affects i guess whether we are more or less likely to believe it.
The quote says people with a certain type of epilepsy who experience a certain type of seizure. That would be a fairly limited number of people, so Syren's family members would be the norm not the exception.
The mind is capable of many things and can be our greatest strength or weakness. So its possible, but I don't think its a physical part of the brain, more like thought processes.
Thought processes take part in different areas of the brain.
The religious thought supposedly take part in the "God Module"
Every other function has its own physical area which corresponds to a function... i dont find it to surprising that religion has its own area... I dont get why you guys have such a big problem with this idea. Well i guess i do get why... but still. Because its religion it cant have a physical part to it... thats bs. There is an area in your brain that goes off everytime you do or think of something... each kind of though or action uses a diff part.... is it impossible that part of your brain goes off when you think your talking to god?
Originally posted by Tired Hiker
If you were put on a deserted island as an infant and raised by wolves, would God exist in your mind? How would you know about God? What would your brain do then?I'm actually being more serious than you might think.
Your mind would probably be wondering why the coconut god has been so cruel or good to you 🙂
How do more primitive cultures on islands worship volcanos and stuff.
You are asking the age ole question actually...How did religion start?
Humans need a higher power 🙁 I think mostly because we think of ourselves above all other creatures because we have the highest intelligence. We are smarter so we have a purpose or something.
Look at the picture! Vision takes part in a certain area of you brain. Sound affects another. Taste and smell take place in another.
This is not only some opinion... or something completely fabricated by athiests to make christians not believe in god.
It is widely accepted by Psychologists that different areas of the brain do different things. They think they found a part of the brain which becomes active when experiencing religious visions... I dont think that idea is nearly as crazy as some guy performing miracles, dying and raising from the dead. I'm sorry. Not even close to as crazy an idea.
And while i wasn't very clear i did say:
I dont get why you guys have such a big problem with this idea. Well i guess i do get why... but still
I can understand why people dont want to believe religion takes place in a certain part of the brain... I just dont understand why they can accept the fact that every other function happens in different areas of the brain but religion cant. THAT seems hypocritical.
Tired Hiker- I dont know. Some people have twisted interpretations on what exactly those scientific findings mean. I dont agree with everything they say in that article... but I dont understand why it is not possible for there to be some physical part of you connected to religion. That seems to be where a lot of the disagreement is here. Its not "well what does this mean?" its more like "Nope cant be phyisically part of you only in your thoughts..." and I'm saying that I think it could take part in a specific area of the brain. Thats basically what is being said in those studies. The interpretation of it... you cant really interpret anything meaningful from it. Except that it takes place in a certain area and we know where that is. Thats the only conclusion I can really accept based on what I've read. I dont know what that kid would do, Im guessing he would grow up like wolves and do wolve things... maybe he would be spiritual in some way, but who knows.