Posted on 11/29/2008 9:26:26 AM PST by Between the Lines
Dr Justin Barrett, a senior researcher at the University of Oxford's Centre for Anthropology and Mind, claims that young people have a predisposition to believe in a supreme being because they assume that everything in the world was created with a purpose.
He says that young children have faith even when they have not been taught about it by family or at school, and argues that even those raised alone on a desert island would come to believe in God.
"The preponderance of scientific evidence for the past 10 years or so has shown that a lot more seems to be built into the natural development of children's minds than we once thought, including a predisposition to see the natural world as designed and purposeful and that some kind of intelligent being is behind that purpose," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"If we threw a handful on an island and they raised themselves I think they would believe in God."
In a lecture to be given at the University of Cambridge's Faraday Institute on Tuesday, Dr Barrett will cite psychological experiments carried out on children that he says show they instinctively believe that almost everything has been designed with a specific purpose.
In one study, six and seven-year-olds who were asked why the first bird existed replied "to make nice music" and "because it makes the world look nice".
Another experiment on 12-month-old babies suggested that they were surprised by a film in which a rolling ball apparently created a neat stack of blocks from a disordered heap.
Dr Barrett said there is evidence that even by the age of four, children understand that although some objects are made by humans, the natural world is different.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
The article said — “If we threw a handful on an island and they raised themselves I think they would believe in God.”
Yes, because the immutable attributes of God are shown through His creation. That’s why they would believe in God.
For the knowledge of salvation, however, they would need God’s *specific revelation*, the Bible (as opposed to the “general revelation” of creation) to know about the Gospel of Salvation through Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior...
No, no, NO!!!
People can only be born gay. Believing in God is a choice.
Thank you very much, I’m here all week.
They would believe in a god or gods, or spirit beings, or something supernatural to explain the things they cannot explain -- not the same thing at all.
See the type of question? It is a 'why' question. Why presupposes a purpose.
Same as the last time this article was posted.
“If we threw a handful on an island and they raised themselves I think they would believe in God.”
Lord of the Flies?
They would also believe that the world was flat.
Excellent!
I don't think that's a particularly compelling defense of religion. I was born believing that when the trees waved their branches, they made breezes.
The Creator imparts part of Himself to his creation. C.S. Lewis talked about this in some of his writings.
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