Why do we believe in God? £2m study prays for answer

This study needs to be done. Religion obviously served a significant purpose at some point in time, and this research will help discern what that was. It's also important that the study is impartial. That way, biassed conclusions (in either direction) will be avoided.

Here's the answer in two sentences:

Greater forces are at work.
We stand in awe.

I believe that the answer is far more complicated than those two sentences. The concept of God transcends all thought, all form, it is an inexpressible thing which transcends thingness, it is everything and no thing. It is when people attempt to personify and create a god into something they can see and touch, that we lose sight of it all. That is my belief anyhow...

p.s I am not exclusively a part of one religion, nor do i say that i am a part of any. But ritual is an important part of the human experience.

two points:

religions, as spiritual/scientific disciplines, serve to answer two fundamental questions of existential meaning: 1) life; and 2) death.

as institutions, they serve to justify two fundamental essentials: 1) political power; and 2) economic freedom.

i'm sure it's more complicated than that. i guess the study is to figure out if religions play a part in human evolution? i guess 'yes' if we factor in war...and peace.

As someone who does not believe in god i'd have to say, *shrugs* I have no idea.

god= part of human devolution. holds our society back with fear, and does not let us advance because of fear of death and unfinished earth business. god is for the "hoi poloi" aka common people, introduced by "supposed" kings to control the masses. what else is there?

AHHHH SO TRUE meerfokus, I went on a few rants saying just that quite a few times. people are small minded cowards.

A thinking atheist and a thinking god-fearer could converge on my two sentences.

those who do not believe in god may still recognize greater forces at work. Those who do not pray may still stand in awe.

meerfokus and pirho338, judgementalism and opinions aside, can you make an analysis of whether belief (or disbelief) in invisible forces affect human evolution? the question posited by the researchers is not whether god exists or if the motivation of people to believe is warranted but, rather, if religion affects human evolution or the other way around. what does your research reveal to you?

my research reveals to me that when there is belief in a higher deity that you are accountable to, it literally limits you from experiencing this experience to its highest potential. in other words, that limitation does not contribute to evolving simply because it is a limitation. a line that you cannot pass to enter further knowledge. knowledge is part of evolving. not gaining that potential knowledge is not neccasarily devolving but your not evolving either. so your just being stagnant. that is what belief in a higher force has done to humanity, held it back (1000 years i believe, but don't quote me on that..)

even rastafarians?

im an atheist, as well as a realist. there is no way 2mil is going to help prove anything in any direction. however, im happy to see a consistent growth in questioning in bigger terms and in a public light.
good luck Oxford, but im not holding my breath for a huge revelation with a 2mil price tag on it.

oh, why do we believe in god? because people are afraid of death and uncertainty. fear is why we believe in god. cmon its all over there "holy" books, with fear in god this, with the start of fear in god that, blah blah blah and so on and so on and so on. the answer is in the text. can i have 2mil now?

religion obviously sets mankind back, look at the countless attrocities carried out in "god's" name. By looking for a centralized answer to spirituality we shut ourselves off from the less obvious sources (all of existence for instance). people have faith in religion out of fear and greed. take some shrooms, learn to meditate, watch a tree breathe, then tell me if youre silly little idea of a bearded man up in the clouds behind a pearly gate seems as significant (religious people). you can do so without the shrooms, but it does wonders for kickstarting your conciousness =D

and before you even say anything, yes I understand that that is not everyone's idea of god, my point is a set structure of believe is inhibiting altogether. religion is an oxymoron unto itself.

Hmm, science, the infant child of discovery, once again attempts to chat with GOD. Borrrring LOL

There seems to be a natural side to people believing in a creator. I've heard of people getting closer to the creator when they see the Grand Canyon or the giant Sequoia trees in California and the mountains in Colorado or Wyoming.

pressrecord - I believe the study hopes to discover religions evolutionary purpose, not its effect on evolution. They want to know why religon developed in humanity, as it is assumed to be evolutionary in nature. For this, my answer adheres to that of the late Douglas Adams: An early man walks out of his cave and looks around. He thinks to himself "wow. I have a nice cave to sleep in, undisturbed, a forest where I can hunt for food, a river from which to drink. This environment suits me perfectly. It's almost like someone designed it just for me." This is a logical conclusion for the man to make. Skip about 1.5 million years later, and the situations a little different. We now have a shortage of resources, huge intersocial conflicts, and a changeing climate. It seems that the assumption now has flaws, because our environment no longer suits us. The concept of God, in the past, has served to encourage us, give us hope, and otherwise aid us. Now it is just a vestige of our past. It is true that religion prevents us from progressing as a society. Just look at Galileo, Copernicus, Socrates, Darwin, and many others, who have been persecuted and constrained by religion. They exemplify the conservation of religion; its tendancy to keep us in the past. Religion is a concept of absolutes, and the enemy of absolutes is change. Your later post about rastafarians; what do you mean? That Rasta is less conservative than other religions? Well how about Bob Marley? He had Gangrene in his toe. Because he was a rastafarian, he couldn't amputate, so he died. If he weren't religious, then he may be alive today. Religion as a whole does not help us in the modern world. It devalues science, and knowledge altogether. I quote the Last Emporer in saying "The mind is where every man must build his holy temple." We have demonstrated that religion does not suffice.

"God is the name we give that which we cannot comprehend"
- Some Guy I Can't Remember

It isn't "God" that's holding humanity back, it's institutionalized religion.
Equating the great Unknown with man-made rule books is exactly what religion does wrong.

Back In the Day, it served to unite people of a group together, as well as govern them.
One of the things that makes us human is our ability to imagine a world outside of the Here and Now, a Spirit and a Body, an existence beyond death - which is exactly where religion sprang from, I'd wager.

The worlds corrupt leaders have understood within the confines of there limited wisdom, that religion induces the conscience, this conscience then becomes what I refer to as a ''Limiter'', it limits the extents to which an individual will go, or rather the measures for change that a person will take, in this case, the extent being to remove corrupt leaders from their places of power forcefully. The leaders of the world apply force to gain what they desire because they are not restricted by a conscience. It seems as though religion has not contributed much to civilization in regards to it's apparent divisive history. Although religion isn't the problem, the problem is our limited view of an unlimited universe, our perception of an abstract reality is obscured by our subjective impressions, we mis-interpret what we see, because our minds cannot interpret what our eyes were not designed to witness.

Religion overrides rationality, and the religious institutions understand this effect very clearly, because you can't question what you don't understand and you can't oppose something that cannot be proven or disproved, hence the idea of faith, so the religious implications of a celestial reality of consciousness establish themselves as fact because it cannot be proven or disproved, overall deceptively establishing the authority of the Church and it's blasphemous so called ''right'' to tithe under false pretenses. A ''law'' demanding people to compensate the church for their own salvation, this of course all being mandated by the divine, yeah right. Jesus, Sidhartha, ISIS, Khrisna, would be disgusted and appalled. but this analysis is based on the sinister usage of religion and how it is employed for social-control. I myself acknowledge the existence of a conscious creative source, and in my own personal experience, this source has proven itself to be undeniable in it's promulgation and essentially beneficial as concerns the process of human evolution. Perceiving the divine can incite unity and constructive change, community, fellowship, these faculties are not religious in nature, they are simply integral and innate and free for every woman or man to pursue, the concept of ''religion'' is exclusive to preference and the desire to be selfishly idealized all in the ultimate attempt to control. Jesus never said, come be a Christian, forget about buddha , or give me fifty shekels so that I can continue my ministry. come on, people need to wake up!
Religion is the opiate of the masses...
-Karl Marx

because we need someone to blame.