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Monday, November 25, 2024

Dear God, please confirm what I already believe

None of this is a bit surprising, but in case you thought otherwise, the part of your brain you use to infer what God thinks is the same part of your brain you use to figure out what you think.  – Ilene

Dear God, please confirm what I already believe

God Rocks' in graffiti on the side of a truck

By Andy Coghlan, New Scientist  

God may have created man in his image, but it seems we return the favour. Believers subconsciously endow God with their own beliefs on controversial issues.

"Intuiting God’s beliefs on important issues may not produce an independent guide, but may instead serve as an echo chamber to validate and justify one’s own beliefs," writes a team led by Nicholas Epley of the University of Chicago in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

"People may use religious agents as a moral compass, forming impressions and making decisions based on what they presume God as the ultimate moral authority would believe or want," the team write. "The central feature of a compass, however, is that it points north no matter what direction a person is facing. This research suggests that, unlike an actual compass, inferences about God’s beliefs may instead point people further in whatever direction they are already facing."

Full article here.

 

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