Cognitive bias and religious beliefs

OK, I actually looked it up🙂
In UK we call them inverted commas(can’t believe I misspelled comma🙃) both in writing and as a gesture while speaking(and we do use that a lot over here). Never heard them called scare or air quotes though, must be an American term.
Marta

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Right. Another, huge factor is birth rate. While Christianity outpaces Islam in conversions, Islam (especially compared to the West) outpaces in births

Indeed! I said it more as a figure of speech rather than a literal winner(by any means this is not a competition, not IMO anyway) but I agree I should have used a different word.

Well, looking at it from Christian perspective, it seems almost obvious that God wouldn’t create us with a disinclination to believe in Him.
As to common features, I think if all of the religions were totally different, then the critics would have even more to say about it, they would see it as a “proof” that it is all just made up, probably under influence of drugs. But that’s just speculation on my side.

Anyways thanks for detailed reply, I read the links, one about the axial age was particularly interesting!
Marta

From your quote:

On the contrary, damnationism, redemptive violence start here.

How? Beyond instantiating them? Otherwise that’s a cognitive bias : )

Unless we build a time machine, is there any point in asking “how?”. It is likely this will remain just a speculation.
I’m not sure what point you trying to make… If you’re a Christian(don’t take it the wrong way but I’m really not sure when it comes to you) then it would be illogical to assume that God made us without longing for Him…that longing may have manifested in ways that seem strange to us nowadays but again we have no ways of knowing.
And we already agreed on this thread that only because something is a bias, doesn’t mean it’s not correct, did we not?
Marta

The point is about even coming up with a falsifiable hypothesis as to how God created the laws of reality, rather than creating bound by prevenient laws. There is no requirement, no warrant for the former whatsoever. Absolutely none. Whether God is the ground of being or no. Believing that He nonetheless created laws that need no creation is cognitively biased.

That’s the point.

I’m as Christian as anyone else here marta. As God did not need to create the laws of quantum mechanics and relativity, of gravitation, of electromagnetism, of the weak and strong nuclear forces, of stellar nucleosynthesis, chemistry, abiogenesis, genetics, evolution what laws did He have to create so that some of us long for Him?

Aye, just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you : ) And our religiosity and all its cognitive biases similarly have no connection with whether God is, grounds being or not.
Martin

Not everyone on this site is a Christian.
Some even say that God didn’t have to create anything. So why just stop there?

If God is then He has always created. According to the laws of creation to which He humbly submits. It’s that or nothing.

Except in sub-Saharan Africa which you know well! Christianity will be black by the end of the century. As will much of W. Europe be.

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Assuming that is what God is creation is what He does. You seem awfully certain that a mechanistic description of God is possible. Seems like hubris to me.

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Bless. I’m awfully certain that God changeth not. And if not God, then nature changeth not either. Of course its prevenient theoretical laws don’t either way.

Well it makes sense that it wouldn’t make sense to me I suppose. I’ve never understood why the ‘comforter’ and ‘inspirer’ should also be responsible for putting things together.

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According to Hebrews 2 God performed miracles to verify Christ as God. The purpose of miracles often verified the person called of God within a framework of Gods ultimate plan.
Paul say we see through a glass dimly in that we don’t fully understand all things the riches and plans of Christ but sufficient to know we a re saved. Bias could also be a result of sin or worldview

And we all sin without even knowing it, and all have worldviews. Thanks to us all having cognitive bias.

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