Religion: man"s attempt to communicate with the weather
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Anonymous graffito |
We have seen that Christianity was once thought to be provable, using either physical evidence or rational argument. For most Christians this position has not been tenable since the nineteenth century, if not before. We have seen that since this position has been abandoned there has been a much greater emphasis on the importance of faith. We have also seen that there are reasons to regard faith as not altogether reliable. This invites an obvious question. If Christianity has no rational basis, and if faith is unreliable, why should anyone believe in it?
In this section we will work from the assumption that Christian beliefs are mistaken and look at some possible reasons why such beliefs are held. To do this we will review some facets of human behaviour. We will start by considering human credulity. We will also look at superstition and enquire why it should exist. We will then go on to look at the relationship between religion and superstition. We will then turn to arguments that Christian ideas are attributable to natural deep-seated psychological desires. Finally, we will look at the question of how easy or difficult it is to set up a successful new religion.
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