survival of the certain

In a bold move, instead of commenting on an article on the evolution of religious belief, I'm going to point you to other bloggers first. (Actual postings only... thinkers, not linkers.) Read and discuss.

OB: "We're often told some variation on the theme 'Millions and billions of people have believed this stuff for thousands of years, so there must be something to it.' But that just becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, doesn't it. Everybody looks around and says to herself, 'By golly, everybody for miles around believes this crap, so there must be something to it, so I'd better shut up about the fact that I think it's all fairy tales.' We don't have a clue how many people would have believed it without the shoring-up effect of all those millions and millions, so the argument isn't worth much, is it."

Alan Cook: "All the usual qualms and objections concerning evolutionary psychology still apply here, of course; but unlike Kristof, the Guardian writer, Ian Sample, shows that is aware of such issues."

Jared Bridges: "As one who has faith in Christ, my evidence for belief is found in God’s general revelation, his written word to us, and the internal witness of the Spirit (this last is the most difficult for establishing credibility among those outside the faith, but it is highly credible to the believer). The naturalist who claims that these evidences do not exists without thouroughly examining their credibility is nothing more than a lazy naturalist."

Matt Frost: "To say that “our brains are wired to view objects in three dimensions” would be a trivial observation. Why, then, does Ian Sample of the Guardian or the editor at aldaily.com announce a similar observation regarding religion as somehow enlightening? Would either writer consider depth perception an atavistic delusion?"

Inkling: "I find it funny that the scientists are now developing all kinds of hypotheses to explain why people are born with a tendency to believe in God, but they are not considering the possibility that God exists and created us."

Tom Coates: "As a confirmed and long-standing atheist, I choose to read it as an interesting explanation of why people choose to believe such counter-intuitive things - but there's something here for everyone, and I applaud Ian Semple for writing it so elegantly."

Added:

Gennady: "God was there before, after, and is still there, and everywhere. God is the Tsunami. I call it Nature. Now that is something I’m prone to believe in. And I don't need a Bible or a Church to do it for me."