$4 million to study why mankind embraces God

[tinrobot]

University of Oxford researchers will spend nearly $4 million to study why mankind embraces God.

The grant to the Ian Ramsey Center for Science and Religion will bring anthropologists, theologians, philosophers and other academics together for three years to study whether belief in a divine being is a basic part of mankind's makeup.

"There are a lot of issues. What is it that is innate in human nature to believe in God, whether it is gods or something superhuman or supernatural?" said Roger Trigg, acting director of the center.

He said anthropological and philosophical research suggests that faith in God is a universal human impulse found in most cultures around the world, even though it has been waning in Britain and western Europe.

"One implication that comes from this is that religion is the default position, and atheism is perhaps more in need of explanation," he said.

The study will be funded by the John Templeton Foundation, a U.S.-based philanthropic organization that funds wide-ranging research into questions that deal with the laws of nature and issues of spirituality.


http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Oxford_to_study_faith_in_God_02192008.html

[wtmusic]

1. Scared/Stupid

Thanks...make the check out to "wtmusic"

[izquierdista]

2. Then find a cure?

What? No experts on psychiatry and mental illness?

[Iggo]

3. I gots to get me some study money...(n/t)

[annabanana]

4. Here you go:

http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=IJP.039.0432A

[Pale Blue Dot]

5. The Templeton Foundation has a bias.

Don't look for real answers here, folks, just more religious apology.

[Mojambo]

6. They are afraid of the dark.

Where's my check?

[Beregond2]

7. Study

Just the response I expected from the spiritually retarded on this board. Amazing how the very people who are the first to decry bigotry are also the first to indulge in it.

[Mojambo]

9. I'm not clear on how what I said was bigotry.

I believe that the fear of the unknown (the dark) is what drives human beings to believe in God. I made no judgment on whether that was a good or bad thing.

[skepticscott]

8. Not a surprise

that the TF is funding more research like this, but it's going to be hard to trust the results when the funding agency already has decided what it wants them to be. And any bets on whether they will even try to define what they mean by "God" or "divine being" as a foundation for the research? What qualifies something that people believe in as a "God"? Can you even define "divine" in an objective way or without pages of meaningless woo-woo? Trust me, the results of this study have already been written, even if some people getting involved don't know it yet.

[edhopper]

10. Here, this should win the grant

from Templeton:
God is really an awesomely great being. And it is so cool to believe in him. If you don't believe you are probably a stupid doody head. And nobody wants to be a stupid doody head, so that's why it just makes sense to believe and not be an atheist with cooties.

[Rob H.]

11. 'Cause people are afraid of death. Duh!

Now where's my $4 million? :P

[zonmoy]

12. a masochistic streak a mile wide most likely.

[jody]

13. John Templeton Foundation should fund a study using the scientific method to prove God exists. n/t