Why do we-- WHAT?!

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!

Superstition: Wrong Edition

I haven't made fun of people with original beliefs in quite a while, so I have two pearls to share. Obviously, there is a very peculiar verse in the Bible that has foreseen what was to come:

"A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness."
Isaiah Chapter 35, Verse 8

Well, naturally, it was meant to be that when you deterministically take I and 35, what you get is the Interstate 35. After someone figured this utterholy message, it didn't take long for others to take notice of this unmistakable proof of God's word being alive, and now CNN reports:

[...]
Some of the faithful believe that in order to fulfill the prophecy of I-35 being the "holy" highway, it needs some intensive prayer first. So we watched as about 25 fervent and enthusiastic Christians prayed on the the interstate's shoulder in Dallas.

They chanted loudly and vibrantly, making many people in the neighborhood wonder what was going on. They prayed that adult businesses along the corridor would "see the light" and perhaps close down.

[...]

Jacobs also points out that perhaps there is a link between the area near this highway and tragedies that have happened in history, such as the bridge collapse on I-35 in Minneapolis last August and the assassination of JFK 44 years ago near I-35 in Dallas. That's why prayer certainly can't hurt, she adds.

Oh wow. :-) I am speechless. Only, I wonder what will come next. A holy submarine?

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That's not all, though! Indian Reuters reports:
RAIPUR, India - A Hindu priest in Chhattisgarh killed himself with the promise he would come back to life after two days, police said on Monday.

Manoj Baghel, described as an intensely religious man, poisoned himself in front of a small crowd on Saturday at a temple in Raigarh in Chhattisgarh, police said.

He was taken to hospital, and died soon after.

Police have registered a case of suicide, but have been unable to take the 25-year-old's body for an autopsy because supporters have insisted on returning the body to the temple and waiting to see what happens.

LOL. I am very excited to hear the end of his story to know whether he comes back to life... But for now, the only thing I can say is "good riddance", and a Darwin award is surely coming his way. :-)

The Holy Godmachine of Neuropsychology

Slashdot presented me with a real treat tonight. Obviously, scientists are able to read MRI of religious people's God proximity encounters, and then replicate them for a different person altogether.

"Scientific American is reporting on scientific work done to map the euphoric religious feelings within the brain. As a result, it's now quite possible to experience 'proximity to God' via a special helmet: 'In a series of studies conducted over the past several decades, Persinger and his team have trained their device on the temporal lobes of hundreds of people. In doing so, the researchers induced in most of them the experience of a sensed presence — a feeling that someone (or a spirit) is in the room when no one, in fact, is — or of a profound state of cosmic bliss that reveals a universal truth. During the three-minute bursts of stimulation, the affected subjects translated this perception of the divine into their own cultural and religious language — terming it God, Buddha, a benevolent presence or the wonder of the universe."

Well, scientists are able to create a deep spiritual experience at a press of a button. I wonder how that makes God feel. Does the machine make him come close to the person personally, or just replicate the effect without involving any actual deities?

Now I definitely need to get one of these godhelmets of my own. If for no other reason, then to find out how spiritual junkies feel. Then I could finally have a god of my own, one who would actually come to me at times.

Or then again, maybe this, just as all other scientific endeavors to undermine the spiritual authority, is just a fake. How? The Flying Spaghetti Monster is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage, of course.

Mister Persinger doesn't hold back, though, and keeps effing the ineffable. From the article:

"Persinger thus argues that religious experience and belief in God are merely the results of electrical anomalies in the human brain. He opines that the religious bents of even the most exalted figures—for instance, Saint Paul, Moses, Muhammad and Buddha—stem from such neural quirks. The popular notion that such experiences are good, argues Persinger in his book Neuropsychological Bases of God Beliefs (Praeger Publishers, 1987), is an outgrowth of psychological conditioning in which religious rituals are paired with enjoyable experiences. Praying before a meal, for example, links prayer with the pleasures of eating. God, he claims, is nothing more mystical than that."

LOL. Makes me think it would be cool to amplify effects of the godmachine, so that it has an area effect. Then, you could just proclaim yourself to be god, and all the poor confused people would believe you, because they would feel it. Awesome. My life finally has a meaning again! :-D

Volksrepublik China ist wunderbar!

Newsweek, Aug. 20-27, 2007 issue:
In one of history's more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is "an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation."

Now this is quite interesting. I don't think I've seen a dictatorship reach into the afterlife like this before. The funny thing is, though, that by trying to control who reincarnates how, China has officially, although unintentionally admitted, that reincarnation is possible. Whoops! :-)

Of course, the true motive of very materialistic Communist Party is to strengthen its hold on Tibet. Fully abusing this law by Chinese government could effectively mean, that China would choose who gets to be the next Dalai Lama, the next symbol of resistance against the occupation. Just a quick history note, we've seen them meddle with Buddhist officials before, when some dozen years ago, or so, the Panchen Lama disappeared and wasn't heard from since.

Meanwhile, the current Dalai Lama proves his wits by proclaiming that he is not going to reincarnate in Tibet, as long as it's occupied, so his successor will probably be born in exile. I have to admit am a little jealous of his powers over his own reincarnation. ;-) Anyway, I'm rather curious to see this story unfold.

Edited to add: As my friend has remarked, we are quite curious about the methods used by the Chinese government to monitor reincarnations. Unless, of course, people brag about them, just like the Dalai Lama needs to. Also, we'd like to know if you have to pay the administration fees and fill out the reincarnation permits before you die. And what if you cannot actually control your own reincarnation process? Oh aye, China seems to have screwed up big time with this one.