Only athiests need reply.

[flobadob]

If you don't mind answering this question, what religion were you before you became an athiest? With most people I assume you were brought into a family with some religious belief and decided to give it up at some stage. If you wish to elaborate, did you actually go through a whole process of getting yourself totally removed from the faith or do you just not practice the religion anymore?

[jno]

quite so, Waldo; there are a lot of ifs there. My point though was that it's considered improper to disdain people for genetic traits - colour, Huntingdon's, religious belief, whatever. And that Wizard may be - MAY be - wrong in saying that atheism is the default setting for newborns.

Steven Pinker:" The universal propensity toward religious belief is a genuine scientific puzzle"

http://pinker.wjh.har...04_10_29_religion.htm

I don't claim to have a solution to this, but it does seem that all societies have religion, and some lose it, rather than the other way round.

[naomi24]

So what you're saying is IF this gene exists, then believers should be exempt from criticism because their propensity to believe isn't their fault - so the rest of us just have to put up with it. Mmm ... I don't think so. If believers possess such a gene, then as with any other genetic disorder, the answer is not to accept it, but to identify it and work on effecting a cure.

To answer the question, I was a Christian.

[LazyGun]

I haven't read the papers you have cited JNOI. I have previously read several abstractson this subject , and all seem to have been preliminary, tentative and either unpublished or not peer reviewed at the time I read them.
Several eminent biologists have speculated on the evolutionary advantage such a genetic predisposition would offer, but have bee unable to arrive at any conclusive idea.
I would disagree with your statement that such a hardwired genetic pathway invalidates the default belief status for an infant. Rather, if this gene plays a part at all ( and remember that the research is tentative, inconclusive etc) that faith/belief only "takes" in those who have the gene and are exposed to their particular dominant cultural religious meme. Interesting topic that lends itself to unsupported speculation. For example, does not having the gene protect one from religious propaganda?

I really do not think this gene plays a particularly important role in religious belief. If it really was that significant, then you wouldn't see the exponential rejection of religiousity, in direct proportion to increasingly higher levels of education,particularly science education.

[123everton]

Gene therapy to remove one's prejudices, the possibilities are endless....
What of the people who are happy to with their condition, do you force them into therapy?

[jno]

a fair question, 123everton. naomi24, who says it's a 'disorder'?

[naomi24]

jno, By associating it with Huntingdons, you do - and you're right. If a gene produces a fervent belief in something for which there is no evidence, then it clearly causes a psychotic disorder.

Wizard is right too. Despite the possible presence of this gene, we are all born atheists. As Waldo says, the gene does not dictate what we believe in - that comes only from what we're taught, which is why we have so many different faiths in the world. If such a gene is indeed present, someone raised to believe in fairies would believe in them - and any psychologist would consider that person to be suffering a form of psychosis caused by the rogue gene.

[fredpuli47]

Christmas? Or do you mean' the holidays' or 'the season' ['season's greetings !] or maybe Winterval ? We happen to live in a country which is historically Christian..It doesn't concern me that some people think Christ was born near the Winter solstice (which was lucky for us, because there's not much farming action then. It would have been very awkward if he'd been born in the middle of the harvest, or any other time really) or that they think he was the son of God. If we'd been an atheist country historically we'd have had our celebrations and holiday then too, because it's the most convenient time and coincides with the solstice, which is suitable a point to celebrate, being when the days start to get longer again.

[Mr Veritas]

My Mother & Father were token C of E.
They went to church for weddings and christenings,and at Easter and Christmas,but that was all.
I became an Aethist after my terrible experiences in the army in WW2.
As my parents were not real churchgoers,I just stopped going ever again,not that I went very much when I did go.

[vascop]

For god's sake please try and spell atheist correctly.

[flobadob]

Also for whatevers sake give a answer to he Q

[guyrkp]

I just thought for myself !! Saw that we lived in a world of fact, logical and rational thinking. then i saw there was none of this in religion so i knew it cannot be true, or 99% not true.