Post No.: 0942 Furrywisepuppy says: The way our brains – more than our sensory organs – do much (and sometimes all) of the heavy lifting when it comes to seeing, hearing and other (apparently) sensory experiences could explain … Read More
Post No.: 0927 Fluffystealthkitten says: Regarding any context, if someone asked you, “What evidence will it take for you to change your beliefs?” and you cannot or won’t state what’ll satisfy you – then maybe your beliefs aren’t … Read More
Post No.: 0907 Fluffystealthkitten says: The words paranormal and supernatural are usually used synonymously and in most cases this is no problem for they both refer to phenomena that’s believable without a basis on empirical observations gathered though … Read More
Post No.: 0893 Furrywisepuppy says: Uncertainty is unsettling, so we seek ways to alleviate uncertainty. And religion offers us a set menu of answers like to questions pertaining to the meaning of life, how to live a good … Read More
Post No.: 0864 Furrywisepuppy says: Explicit cognition concerns what we say we believe in or do. This concerns our deliberate conscious thoughts. Meanwhile, implicit cognition concerns what we actually think and do. This will have been influenced by … Read More
Post No.: 0837 Furrywisepuppy says: Although religions often promote the highest ethical ideals, they’re also frequently implicated in violence. Even Buddhist monks have sometimes supported violence. Being religiously literate involves taking into consideration the fact that within any … Read More
Post No.: 0815 Furrywisepuppy says: In this post, we’re going to expand on Post No.: 0791 in order to start improving our religious literacy… So the first thing to understand is that religions are internally diverse – … Read More
Post No.: 0791 Furrywisepuppy says: According to a British Victorian colonial conception of religion anyway – the 5 main ‘world religions’ are Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. But each of these religions aren’t monolithic entities. There … Read More
Post No.: 0718 Furrywisepuppy says: Many adults aren’t fooled by magic in the sense of believing that it’s real. However, the more religious or spiritual narrative presentations of magic tricks can convince some that the supernatural realm really … Read More
Post No.: 0690 Furrywisepuppy says: Faith is like a perfect scam because any scepticism towards it is directly silenced because you’ll be accused of lacking enough of it! In other words, as soon as you question faith itself … Read More
Post No.: 0657 Fluffystealthkitten says: Some religious ceremonies, rites or rituals aren’t euphoric or pleasant but cause dysphoric, painful or frightening negative emotions in their participants. There are, or have been, religious practices around the world where devotees … Read More
Post No.: 0591 Fluffystealthkitten says: So-called fortune tellers, spiritual mediums and psychics routinely employ a technique called ‘cold reading’. Without any prior knowledge of a person, they start by spewing out some vague and general guesses that have … Read More
Post No.: 0571 Furrywisepuppy says: Why are some populations far less religious than others? There are contextual reasons, such as one’s sense of security and safety, which stems from factors like living in an affluent area of … Read More
Post No.: 0551 Furrywisepuppy says: The belief in an afterlife can provide one with existential security and a sense of immortality, which is comforting. But afterlives can serve a double-duty – you could go to heaven… but you … Read More
Post No.: 0523 Furrywisepuppy says: Many of us – even those whom consider ourselves otherwise rational and scientifically-minded – believe in superstitions. Superstitions are beliefs or behaviours that pertain to claimed supernatural forces acting via specific objects … Read More
Post No.: 0496 Fluffystealthkitten says: Successful cultural memes don’t so much survive because they help the individuals who believe in or copy them (although that’d obviously help their transmission) but survive because they benefit the particular meme itself. … Read More
Post No.: 0477 Furrywisepuppy says: Is religion an effective mechanism for encouraging more moral and pro-social behaviours and for enforcing compliance with the social rules or norms within a group? Cooperation is the cornerstone for group cohesion … Read More
Post No.: 0439 Fluffystealthkitten says: Our ‘weak or non-moral evaluations’ are those evaluations that are highly subjective, such as what pudding, painting or piece of music is best, and we wouldn’t really be bothered if someone else differed … Read More
Post No.: 0417 Furrywisepuppy says: This post isn’t really about teaching people how to start a cult(!) Its purpose is learning about and watching out for some of the common signs of cults so that you or someone … Read More
Post No.: 0399 Furrywisepuppy says: Human rights don’t arise from genetic evolution per se – nothing in genetic evolution or ‘survival of the fittest’ even says that people must behave morally. Humans have genetic instincts for both compassion … Read More
