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It's just my opinion, but it's not uncommon. I believe Blaise Pascal (the brilliant French mathematician) got it right when he said "There is a God-shaped vacu

It's just my opinion, but it's not uncommon. I believe Blaise Pascal (the brilliant French mathematician) got it right when he said "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each man which cannot be satisfied by any created thing....." For this reason, I doubt religion will ever die. It will be with us always.

skrebbel 7y ago
I'd wager that most atheists assume that God is very much a "created thing", which makes that quote feel pretty awkward.
- aasasd 7y ago
  I vaguely heard some theories that in the absence of better explanations, humans gravitate to attributing weird phenomenons to divine will. Not sure if this is in any way scientific. Inventing forest spirits seems to come pretty naturally by anthropomorphizing a variety of things, but I guess it gets complicated when dealing with lightning and such, and the deities evolve accordingly. Afaik neuroscience also can induce ‘divine’ experience by applying current in a proper place.
- LessDmesg 7y ago
  No, some atheists may allow for existence of an uncreated creator God. It's just that this hypothesis is so inconclusive, unprovable and uninteresting that most atheists don't opt to pursue it (or disprove it for that matter). Assume there is a God or even The God - then what? We've no way of knowing anything about it.
LessDmesg 7y ago
Yes, religion will never die because it's primitive paleolithic thinking embedded in all of us. With education and development of critical thinking, however, anyone can get free of religion and become intelligent (though it IS a lot of work that most are too lazy for).
- RickJWagner 7y ago
  I don't think it's 'intelligent' to be anti-religious. Numerous studies have shown that religious people tend to be healthier, live longer, and have higher levels of subjective well-being. I'm not saying it's for everybody, or that everybody should follow one flavor of religion. But it's definitely wrong to look down upon those who choose to be religious, as there are several advantages (in the here and now). Here's a Harvard paper and another, for good measure. The internet is chock full of papers like these. https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/December-2016/The-Mental-Health-Benefits-of-Religion-Spiritual https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/December-2016/The-Menta... https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=40219 https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=40219
  - Shorel 7y ago
    > Numerous studies have shown that religious people tend to be healthier, live longer, and have higher levels of subjective well-being. It's at least a bit of the tragedy of the commons. Religious people feel and live better but make others feel worse and have more stressful lives. Of course this is a very subjective opinion, but I have witnessed enough examples where this is true.
- Shorel 7y ago
  I think you can have rationality and a deep spiritual connection to nature. There are some doctrines in Buddhism and the writings of Carl Sagan that make me feel that.

skrebbel 7y ago

I'd wager that most atheists assume that God is very much a "created thing", which makes that quote feel pretty awkward.

aasasd 7y ago
I vaguely heard some theories that in the absence of better explanations, humans gravitate to attributing weird phenomenons to divine will. Not sure if this is in any way scientific. Inventing forest spirits seems to come pretty naturally by anthropomorphizing a variety of things, but I guess it gets complicated when dealing with lightning and such, and the deities evolve accordingly. Afaik neuroscience also can induce ‘divine’ experience by applying current in a proper place.
LessDmesg 7y ago
No, some atheists may allow for existence of an uncreated creator God. It's just that this hypothesis is so inconclusive, unprovable and uninteresting that most atheists don't opt to pursue it (or disprove it for that matter). Assume there is a God or even The God - then what? We've no way of knowing anything about it.

LessDmesg 7y ago

Yes, religion will never die because it's primitive paleolithic thinking embedded in all of us. With education and development of critical thinking, however, anyone can get free of religion and become intelligent (though it IS a lot of work that most are too lazy for).

RickJWagner 7y ago
I don't think it's 'intelligent' to be anti-religious. Numerous studies have shown that religious people tend to be healthier, live longer, and have higher levels of subjective well-being. I'm not saying it's for everybody, or that everybody should follow one flavor of religion. But it's definitely wrong to look down upon those who choose to be religious, as there are several advantages (in the here and now). Here's a Harvard paper and another, for good measure. The internet is chock full of papers like these. https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/December-2016/The-Mental-Health-Benefits-of-Religion-Spiritual https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Blog/December-2016/The-Menta... https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=40219 https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=40219
- Shorel 7y ago
  > Numerous studies have shown that religious people tend to be healthier, live longer, and have higher levels of subjective well-being. It's at least a bit of the tragedy of the commons. Religious people feel and live better but make others feel worse and have more stressful lives. Of course this is a very subjective opinion, but I have witnessed enough examples where this is true.
Shorel 7y ago
I think you can have rationality and a deep spiritual connection to nature. There are some doctrines in Buddhism and the writings of Carl Sagan that make me feel that.