Jeff Ricker wrote:
> Yes, exactly. But at the same time, it makes you wonder WHY
> beliefs in an unseen world beyond the natural one ARE the conventional
ones in all
> known cultures--the beliefs that, when rejected, marginalize a person.
There have
> been many discussions of this (e.g., Paul Kurtz, 1991, _The transcendental
> temptation_, Prometheus Books). Existential anxiety about death is
obviously one potential
> source. Perhaps there are also biological explanations (e.g., the
so-called "God
> module"), and many, many other possibilities. Whatever the reason(s),
there seems to me to
> be a very strong motivation in humans with regard to this particular set
of
> beliefs that is more fundamental than simply the need to belong to a
group.
I suspect a more-or-less coincidental fit between the type of belief and
the mechanisms of belief formation/evaluation. The closest thing in print
would be the notion of "viral memes", which I think are discussed in
Dennett's book "Darwin's Dangerous Idea". The beliefs are typically
non-falsifiable, and notice the now-growing undercurrent of "it's us against
the world" in the conservative Christian version (not to taint religious
belief in general with that broad brush). Add a few other ingredients like a
strong value placed on rigid thinking (the rarely questioned notion that
it's better to have principles and stick with them than it is to evaluate
your beliefs and motivations), and you've got a set of beliefs that are
unusually resistant to extinction in the individual, and at the same time
unusually likely to be transmitted from person to person. Religious beliefs
aren't the only ones like this: notice the remarkable credulousness (is that
a word?) about "nontraditional medicine". Unlike most religious beliefs,
beliefs in those "remedies" are supported by the power of the anecdote or
personal testimonial (another favorite mechanism for memes).
Then there's the urban myth...which reminds me, here in Milwaukee, we had
one of those reports of a pin found in Halloween candy yesterday morning.
The mother claims that she found a straight pin in a "Kit-Kat bar" given to
one of her children. She claims to have found it while breaking the candy
bar in half to put it on a dish of ice cream for the child. The local TV
news showed a closeup of half a Kit-Kat bar, with a pin sticking neatly out.
What's wrong with this picture? :)
The TV news team reported the story with no hint that it might be a hoax.
Paul Smith
Alverno College
Milwaukee
