What makes us atheists?
Supposedly there's a god gene that predicts your openness to spiritual experiences
@LysanderMooner Anyone's open to spiritual experiences, provided they actually experience them. Being told a certain book/story is true, or that some morals are good because allegedly a God said so, requires another kind of trait, herd mentality. "Because enough people around me claim something is true, then I believe it."
Rejecting man-made organizations isn't the same as rejecting "spirituality".
@Based_Accelerationist I think it could be deeper than that, herd morality is strength in primitive environments, is it not merely the decadence of our day that enables our atheism? solitary monks aren't subject to social pressure and I don't think it's a matter of pure reason because there have been many geniuses who are religious, I read fmris display a shift in brain activity into the right hemisphere when monks or nuns claim to reach nirvana, I'm sure there's a genetic component
@LysanderMooner Herd morality is strength, but only for the collective. It's weakness to the individual, primitive environment or not. Collectivism has won in our decadent society as well. Individualism can be stronger under the right circumstances.
Rejecting institutionalized concepts of divinity happened alongside the appearance of said institutions, "atheism" is not a new thing. It's now easier than ever to reject religion, as many of those institutions have decayed more than anything else.
@LysanderMooner There have been "geniuses" killing themselves over women. Is that the smart thing to do?
Feelings are far more powerful than logic. Being smart at something, doesn't mean you are free from basic instincts, especially when it comes to brainwashing that is done to children by their own family/community.
I don't see what brain activity has to do with genes, but I'm sure atheists can do yoga or meditation and stimulate the right hemisphere of the brain as well.
@Based_Accelerationist I'm suggesting that there's a genetic component to whether or not someone's able to reach such a state
Have you seen the video where they are talking about a vaccine to inject into people to prevent religious extremism?
@shortstories yeah that was a hoax tho
Was it a hoax that it was said or was who was claimed to have said it a hoax?
@shortstories it was a film project for someone's school
They even named it funvax
@LysanderMooner Logic. If by "spiritual experiences" you mean religion (which is just an institutionalized form of worship), then it mostly depends on upbringing and on one's individualist/collectivist nature. 99% of religious people were indoctrinated in their youth, it's their families/culture that bind them to a religion. But even "non-religious" people often worship some other institution that preaches morality, like the government. People like to follow others, no single gene is responsible