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No

Only Judeism

Only Islam

Yes to both Judeism and Islam

[Helgoland]

It is the same thing when you wake up, go to church and say "Father, I talked to God yesterday and....."

Nope. Religiousness is a fundamental human instinct - there's probably a better word for it -, as is evidenced by the fact that there are no areligious peoples. It operates quite literally on the same level as the urge to procreate.
The wrong thing to do would be suppressing the child's natural instincts, just as abstinence-only education would mess it up.

[TD1]

Of course, don't suppress a child's creative instincts, but don't encourage it either. Accept it until they grow out of having imaginary friends.

[Frumple]

It... would be considerably more accurate to say that a natural human inclination results in what's typified as religious thinking. Religiousness certainly isn't fundamental or natural, but thinking patterns that lend themselves to it are, and it's entirely possible those same inclinations could turn to other behavioral manifestations in other environmental situations (see: Spiritual thinking as a method of explanation being superseded by more empirically based methods of explanation as time goes on).

Considering that religious adherence by all appearances decreases as more robust explanations become available (even among believers, many original claims have been discarded in the face of explanations with greater observable justification), that seems pretty likely -- the fact that the impulse in question has resulted in religious behavior in the past is probably entirely coincidental. I'd say it has less to do with religion being a human inclination than of us liking to formalize ass-pulling in the face of the unknown and being very enthusiastic about nether excavation in such a situation.

Not that it being natural gives it anything in regards to preferential consideration. Lotta' natural shit about humans are kinda' terrible and we try to stop it from manifesting.

[Ai Shizuka]

as is evidenced by the fact that there are no areligious peoples

Can you please elaborate?

[TD1]

It... would be considerably more accurate to say that a natural human inclination results in what's typified as religious thinking. Religiousness certainly isn't fundamental or natural, but thinking patterns that lend themselves to it are, and it's entirely possible those same inclinations could turn to other behavioral manifestations in other environmental situations (see: Spiritual thinking as a method of explanation being superseded by more empirically based methods of explanation as time goes on).

Considering that religious adherence by all appearances decreases as more robust explanations become available (even among believers, many original claims have been discarded in the face of explanations with greater observable justification), that seems pretty likely -- the fact that the impulse in question has resulted in religious behavior in the past is probably entirely coincidental. I'd say it has less to do with religion being a human inclination than of us liking to formalize ass-pulling in the face of the unknown and being very enthusiastic about nether excavation in such a situation.

Not that it being natural gives it anything in regards to preferential consideration. Lotta' natural shit about humans are kinda' terrible and we try to stop it from manifesting.

So, people look for explanations, and they find these in religion until they are proved by other, more scientific methods? If that's what you mean, then I agree.

as is evidenced by the fact that there are no areligious peoples

Can you please elaborate?

He means there is no atheistic nation.

Though communism does its best.

[Frumple]

So, people look for explanations, and they find these in religion until they are proved by other, more scientific methods? If that's what you mean, then I agree.

Not necessarily all people -- there's always going to be outliers, of course -- and not necessarily towards science*, but even within religious beliefs you have people move from one explanation to another, more preferred explanation based on... whatever heuristic they use to evaluate such. Given that even within religious beliefs people tend to shift them based on what they perceive as higher evidentiary merit, the inclination being some sort of explanatory drive seems... likely? At least what I'd tentatively term it such until neurosci actually figures out what the zog those parts of the brain are doing when they do what they do.

To be fair, talking about it until we've got (considerably) better data on the subject is about as much hindquarter extraction as speaking on the unobservable nature of God, but *shrugs*

*if folks are more likely to turn towards science, it's probably because it Gets Shit Done, which nets it a lot of cred -- Jesus curing the crippled he was attributed to coming across in story is one thing, but actual high-functioning prosthetic legs for all who need them is quite another.

[Lord Shonus]

He means there is no atheistic nation.

More accurately, there's never been a human society that developed without some sort of religion, and the only places where atheism is the norm are those where it has been inflicted upon the populace with overwhelming force, and/or had the religious impulse redirected into a "cult of personality" or some other form of secular substitute by their leaders. There have always been largely secular societies which were so prosperous that a significant chunk of the population didn't devote any more time or thought to religion than socially necessary, and there's alway been groups where atheism was very heavily represented, often in philosophical or scientific circles where atheism was a powerful reason for entering the group in the first place (as they had the same curiosity as to the whys and hows of the universe as anyone else, but rejected the religious solution; they had to look elsewhere for one), but the overwhelming evidence is that religion of some kind is an inherent part of the nature of mankind.

[mastahcheese]

"Nature herself imprints upon the minds of all, the idea of God"
-Some guy whose name I can't be arsed to remember

[Criptfeind]

I'm not sure if your conclusion follows your premiss there Shonus. Although to be honest I'm not sure what you mean by "the only places where atheism is the norm are those where it has been inflicted upon the populace with overwhelming force". Do you mean like, the odd communist country where they say "No. You are all atheist"? I guess that is proboly true if that is what you mean, although I doubt it will be true in fifty years.

At any rate, if religion was part of human nature, I would think. That. Well. It wouldn't make sense for Atheism to be growing, and especially for the society you pointed out to exist where people only were the bare minimum religious to exist.

Just like, a conjecture (but at least offered with as much proof as seemingly needed, but at least seem to explain the current state of society) but it seems more likely that people are largely both curious about the unknown (especially the unknown close at hand), and sometimes afraid of it. And when they are completely unable to properly start to understand it they are forced to fill in the gaps with imagination. Which is fair enough, although of course in modern days there's no point to that since we are in fact able to start to properly understand the unknown. Additionally, some people (especially children) might lack a sense of basic cynicism and urge to find the truth, and thus fill in their blanks with ether their own random imagination or whatever they are told.

Both of these tenancies could give rise to religion, but certainly it's not actually a natural inborn impulse to create religion. Unless by religion you mean "Making shit up when you got nothing better" Which I suppose I could agree to. Although comparisons to a appendix come to mind in that case.

[Graknorke]

the only places where atheism is the norm are those where it has been inflicted upon the populace with overwhelming force, and/or had the religious impulse redirected into a "cult of personality" or some other form of secular substitute by their leaders.

That is... painfully incorrect.

[TD1]

the only places where atheism is the norm are those where it has been inflicted upon the populace with overwhelming force, and/or had the religious impulse redirected into a "cult of personality" or some other form of secular substitute by their leaders.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Irreligion_map.png

[Phmcw]

Does someone know who is our dear leader? Can I apply for the position?

[Il Palazzo]

Does someone know who is our dear leader? Can I apply for the position?

Huh, what happened to the 95% that's always touted around in Poland?

[Lord Shonus]

the only places where atheism is the norm are those where it has been inflicted upon the populace with overwhelming force, and/or had the religious impulse redirected into a "cult of personality" or some other form of secular substitute by their leaders.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Irreligion_map.png

That's an extremely misleading map. While there is a clearly reduced percentage of "belief in God", there is also a huge surge in "there is some sort of spirit of life force," with "there is no God and no form of spirit or life force" (in other words, strict atheism) being a significant minority in EVERY SINGLE NATION, with the highest proportion being France with 40%. For the EU as a whole, fully 77% of the population believe in either a conventional God or some other spiritual power. While the survey does indicate a significant decline in the conventional Abrahamic religions, trying to use it to claim that atheism is "the norm" is pure fallacy.

[Graknorke]

the only places where atheism is the norm are those where it has been inflicted upon the populace with overwhelming force, and/or had the religious impulse redirected into a "cult of personality" or some other form of secular substitute by their leaders.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Irreligion_map.png

That's an extremely misleading map. While there is a clearly reduced percentage of "belief in God", there is also a huge surge in "there is some sort of spirit of life force," with "there is no God and no form of spirit or life force" (in other words, strict atheism) being a significant minority in EVERY SINGLE NATION, with the highest proportion being France with 40%. For the EU as a whole, fully 77% of the population believe in either a conventional God or some other spiritual power. While the survey does indicate a significant decline in the conventional Abrahamic religions, trying to use it to claim that atheism is "the norm" is pure fallacy.

Theism requires a god specifically.