Is it true that we have an evolutionary ‘god-shaped hole’?
By Nick Perham, for the Independent Voices
The impact of religion and religious thinking on human functioning and evolution is a captivating intellectual debate ( AFP/Getty Images) )
The quick and easy answer to why people are religious is that God – in whichever form you believe he/she/they take(s) – is real and people believe because they communicate with it and perceive evidence of its involvement in the world. Only 16 per cent of people worldwide are not religious, but this still equates to approximately 1.2 billion individuals who find it difficult to reconcile the ideas of religion with what they know about the world.
Why people believe is a question that has plagued great thinkers for many centuries. Karl Marx, for example, called religion the “opium of the people”. Sigmund Freud felt that god was an illusion and worshippers were reverting to the childhood needs of security and forgiveness.
Suggested reading
The science is in: God is the answer
Categories: America, Americas, Europe, Monotheism, Psychology, Religion