Nowhere357

"Does this mean that there is no Santa Claus?"

Santa tells me that first there's belief or faith, then skepticism and higher (scientific) thinking, then understanding or knowing. I think these don't replace each other, they build on each other.

I wonder if fundies are "hardwired" differently, so they skip a step, and they really can't help it. It's not their fault.

ps418

You can't blame theism. If theism was wiped off the face of the earth tommorrow, people would continue to see faces in clouds, saints in danishes, gods living in volcanoes and crops, and other workings of human-lke agency in natural processes. Theism and other superstitions exist because of our minds are geared to detection of agency in the world, and we get alot of false positives. I think superstition is just a consequence of our cognitive makeup.

dunadan

Which brings up an interesting point. What if we one day localize a specific underactive area of the brain or a chemical imbalance that becomes treatable. How would fundies react to the possibility of being cured of credulity, supersition, and religion?

jupstin

Being somewhat of a fundie myself, I can answer that question: we'd probably turn it around and say that overactivity of that area of the brain is the cause of Atheism. How would you react to the possibility of a cure

dunadan

I would reply that it has already been done, in a much more primitive manner. Foward thinkers, pioneers, and theorists in science and philosophy have in history often been the target if 'brain clensing' - usually by inprisonment, torture, or death. I do feel fortunate that I live in a century and a country where the freedom to think or believe what one wants is a fundamental right. I am quite happy to keep my overactive brain, thank you very much!