I was just reading a thread and thought of this. What if there was a gene, or trait in our DNA that deturmines if we believe in god? Faith of all religions is a phenomenon that affects every single human. You either believe, or you don't believe (Or your undecided, but I think we all really do have a yes or no black or white belief deep down in our psyche. What if there was something inside us that could deturmine that? I don't think its a bad hypothesis for a nice experiment. But then I got thinking, what if its true and there is a specific gene that deturmines whether we are 'people of god' or not. Thats the kind of shit that causes wars and genocide... Man can I get thinking after a bong rip or four.
you know whats crazy about this? i remember an episode of 20/20 where they talked about this......they called it the "god gene" or some shit like that....sounded pretty stupid to me but who knows.... they did PET scans or fMRIs or something to show that deep prayer has similar effects on the brain as meditation..... anyways, they did talk about some gene that may determine how in touch with "god" you might be......still sounds silly though as its all just brain chemistry with different lables given by people from different background and different fields who are trying to study the same thing....
there are groups out there that espouse this concept, genetic reminders, triggers that activate upon seeing or recieving certain messages... it does fit with many of the "prophecies" that are getting banded about these days. jain cosmological beliefs claim we are entering a time when all humanity will be awakened to a greater compassion, or as i call it... the superior satva.
there is no god gene, thats ridiculious. when a human grows, its taught and learns from those around it. all that information starts as its primary directory, if a religion is put into that loop of behaviors then that person doesnt question it and obeys. as soon as the human learns how to question a "fact" it no longer follows the same pattern. but any thing before that, its just following what it knows. in a control situation, hundereds of thousand if not millions follow what they are told to never questioning it once, because they were never taught to. has nothing to do with genetics, just the mind, humans didnt create god on purpose.
I'm not 100% sure about this and its definatley something i'd like to one day look into further..but apparently people have a part in their brain that is dedicated to faith..not nessecarily religion..but faith..i guess the two sort of go hand in hand though..but i'm not too sure..i think basically people just have the need to believe in something.
as robyn said, ever since man has been man, we have had the desire to think there is a higher evolution above us. its just how we are.