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A three-year international research project, ........ at the University of Oxford, finds that humans have natural tendencies to believe in gods and an afterlife. ................................researchers who conducted over 40 separate studies in 20 countries representing a diverse range of cultures. The studies (both analytical and empirical) conclude that humans are predisposed to believe in gods and an afterlife, and that both theology and atheism are reasoned responses to what is a basic impulse of the human mind...... Full item: Science daily 17072011
"The voice of the majority is no proof of justice." - Schiller
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I think that in order to have a balanced study group, and to eliminate any teaching (by parents or school)that may have prejudiced their study, they should include interviews with one-year olds.
"Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon" Suzanne Ertz
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I found it interesting pedro because I studied Jung in college and he was of the view that we do inherit a natural brain-structured sense of the numinous which (to shorthand his explanation) we then hang on particular, culturally engendered gods/god/hitler/ you name it. And this article just went a little way to confirming this. As you imply, a little tongue in cheek(?), these studies are notoriously difficult to design. So I would suggest that, like all social science research, one has to have a good grounding in statistics to see how significant the findings were.
"The voice of the majority is no proof of justice." - Schiller
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You refer intelfam to Jung's 2,000,000 year old man I suppose. It isn't out of the question that belief in a God might have had a unifying influence on a population that enhanced their ability to survive and thus was passed on but I have my doubts about this and other such specific markers for complex behaviours (the so-called gay gene for example). In much the same way that we have discovered that our bodily organs perform (perhaps share is a better word ) many more tasks than we gave them credit for so our brains are not as specific as once believed. The gene may have just helped code for co-operative behaviour in a time when religion happened to default for the absence of science at that time. So if religion was prevalent as a belief system for survival such a (co-operative) gene would encourage joining in the social order of the day. (perhaps obedience is a simpler behaviour than co-operation and might have the same effect).
"Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon" Suzanne Ertz
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One can throw in all sorts of points of view none of which can be substantiated and many of which are airy
fairy. There is however one statement that cannot be gainsaid. It is that man has and has always had, as
far back as recorded history, and innate desire to worship a deity whether that be a physical heavenly body
or some earthly representation of an invisible deity or indeed an invisible deity without a physical
representation.
Throughout history all civilizations have worshipped a superior power to which they bowed. Unlike beasts
man seeks to know why he exists… he asks questions and finds death hard to accept… these are hard facts…
the rest are semantics. Man wants to know... he is not like the beasts of the field. He mourns for all his
life the loss of loved ones and erects monuments to his memory. When man first looked at the heavenly
bodies in all their glory and saw his own smallness and vulnerability he instictively felt the need to look
beyond himself and his fellow man... that is a fact borne out by history, the present and by the nature
of man.
Regardless of whether an individual believes in a god it cannot be ignored that the vast majority of
mankind have and do still believe in a superior being of some sort.
PS: There is no dating system that allows for accurate dating beyond 5000 years and even Radio Carbon
dating is not reliable within those parameters. The date of 2 million years is laughable.
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. Aristotle
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Peter, sorry Percival, we're back to our old ways I see. Ah well, carry on laughing. 'tis good for you.
"Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon" Suzanne Ertz
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Who is this Peter, Pedro? Old ways? What are they? I am Percival Pecksniff and, in the
immortal words of that lady with a pussy, I say I am unanimous in that.
Whatever resemblance there may be between me and that blaggard and charlatan Peter Hewett is entirely
coincidental. Peace... ahem
PS: It was only a metaphoric laugh... am I forgiven?
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. Aristotle
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I am agnostic about the idea too pedro It is just as likely that some sort of behaviour was selected for which we now "only" see expressed in a religious ( or enthusiastic manner) Jung would be referring to his concept of the collective unconscious, which he believed was hard wired into our brains - unlike some folk who have hijacked the concept for their own purposes. I feel we can only sign up to his proposal if we signed up to his view that some patterns of behaviour are inherited. If we are into tabula rasa, then out the window it goes.
"The voice of the majority is no proof of justice." - Schiller
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Perhaps it is hardwired in the womb. By this I mean it seems as soon as on hears that you are with child---people start talking about who is the godmother and godfather going to be. 
The poor child isn't even born and already someone is trying to decide their religion, who is to be responsible, blah, blah. Even if one is agnostic or athiest the subject comes up.
I say this because once you are also with child it is recommended that you talk to your tummy, play relaxing music, not be in stressful situations....all to the advantage of the developing child.
So, the question is >>>> does the developing child hear this even though their ears aren't fully developed or does it have anything to do with a 'preconceived' notion that is newly introduced when conceived or is it more primal?
peace out, >^,,^<
The poor object to being governed badly, whilst the rich object to being governed at all. G.K. Chesterton
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