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Originally Posted by : : Scott : :
I would agree. I'd also conjecture that there likely sound neurological, physiological, sociological and perhaps psychological reasons for a sense of 'spirituality', or blind faith in something; something that helps people to put life into perspective and make it all seem a little less meaningless/dull.
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Did Richard Dawkins not mention something like that in one of his documentaries? That people that claim to have some religious experience exhibit the same stimulation of the dopaminergic reward pathways that drug abusers do? Maybe not, but I'm sure I've seen/read that somewhere.
It could well be that religion is genetic. One single gene that activates these pathways when other neurochemical processes indicate a need for them.
Those folks who are atheists, don't have that gene activated, and eventually, it could evolve to be permanently switched on or off.
Maybe the rise in religious fundamentalism is symptomatic of the evolution of this gene being switched on...
hmm, if only I had paid a bit more attention at uni, I could have studied this further.