Study Shows Our Minds Are Tuned to Believe | The Institute for Creation Research

Study Shows Our Minds Are Tuned to Believe

“It seems that our minds are finely tuned to believe in gods,” according to a new report appearing in the journal New Scientist.1 A group of scientists undertook the task of studying the “science” of religion, which they suggested “probably evolved for survival.” Or did it?

The researchers studied cognition patterns in children to test their capacity for belief in the supernatural. According to anthropologist Justin Barrett from the University of Oxford, children “have a strong natural receptivity to believing in gods because of the way their minds work.” Paul Bloom, a Yale University psychologist, noted that humans of an early age have an “innate assumption that mind and matter are distinct.”1 This assumption provides some of the basic framework for mankind to be able to consider the divine.

They also found that people possess a sense that “primes us to see purpose and design everywhere.” This tendency, also required for religion, is supposedly an “over-attribution of cause and effect.” And the researchers also discovered that “education and experience teach us to override…the default setting of the human brain.”1

Studies of both children and adults, near and far, atheists and theists, led the researchers to conclude that “religion is an inescapable artefact of the wiring in our brain.”1 Psychologist Pascal Boyer concluded that “disbelief requires effort,” for a man must willfully reprogram these innate assumptions if he intends to disbelieve in God. But this sounds like something the apostle Peter knew long ago: “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old.”2

There is thus strong empirical evidence that human brains were “finely tuned” to believe in the supernatural, with confirmation that extra labor and “education” is required to override that basic programming. Since humans were made for God’s good pleasure,3 these observations are exactly consistent with the creation message of the Bible. It seems clear now that only willing, purposeful ignorance would cause people to not believe.

References

  1. Brooks, M. 2009. Born believers: How your brain creates God. New Scientist. 2694: 30-33.
  2. 2 Peter 3:5.
  3. Revelation 4:11.

* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer.

Article posted on February 18, 2009.

The Latest
NEWS
Did Teeth First Evolve as Sensory Tissue?
One of the mysteries of evolution (there are so many) is the origin of teeth. The past few years have witnessed a remarkable flurry of research...

NEWS
''The Flood of Death'': A Mass Dino Grave in Canada
Paleontologists in Alberta, Canada, have recently unearthed “a mass grave on a monumental scale.”1 The BBC story speaks of Thousands...

CREATION PODCAST
The 100th Episode of The Creation Podcast! | Let's Talk About...
What role do in-person events play for a creation science ministry? How can you host an event through ICR? Are these events still important...

NEWS
Bone, Skin, Claw Lasted…150 Million Years?
Experts and educators have long assumed Archaeopteryx represents a transition from theropod dinosaurs to modern birds. All of this speculation depends...

NEWS
How Did Earth Get Its Water?
Earth’s oceans contain 321 million cubic miles (1.335 billion cubic kilometers) of water. The moon causes ebb and flow of tides twice in a 24-hour...

NEWS
New Fossil Discovery Upends Animal Evolution...Again
Reptiles belong to a group of animals called amniotes that also include birds and mammals. A new Australian fossil discovery of a clawed amniote demonstrates...

NEWS
100% Cicada Fossil
Cicadas are an unusual-looking insect belonging to the order Hemiptera (the true bugs, including bed bugs and aphids). If you live in the eastern United...

CREATION PODCAST
Earth’s Origins: Science, Theology, and a New Geology Textbook...
Since the late eighteenth century, most scientists have argued for a uniformitarian view of Earth’s history. They claim the world...

NEWS
June 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from...

CREATION.LIVE PODCAST
Getting the Gospel into People's Hands | Creation.Live Podcast:...
Can God use an atheist airline pilot to reach other nations with the truth of the Gospel? The answer, obviously, is yes.   Host...