LONDON (AP) — 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.
Capital! :-D This research is probably going to be more entertaining than your average blockbuster movie… Also, Roger Trigg’s skill of drawing implications is impeccable. Presumably, the researchers will follow his lead, and I will have no other choice than to congratulate the John Templeton Foundation for $4 mil well spent!
God is here, say LOL!
So, uh, are you going to update or anything?
Birthday pics are up on facebook.
WHY are there no psychologists working on that research? (or are they labeled under “other” (and more obscure) scientists?) This is a well researched field in psychology. Irvin Yalom has got it right, in my opinion . He bases his opinions on Nietzche, Satre and Freud, who all believed that religion is an illusion we create, simply because life is hard. We have to cope with the fact that we will die someday and that knowledge makes us long to flee into an idea about an afterlife or that there is someone, who makes sure that there is justice in the world an so.. That is a basic psychological impulse, and I doubt that this research group will find different information on that.