The cultural residue of powerful myths.
"Even atheists in secular countries show intuitive preferences for religious belief" |
Phys.org (https://phys.org/news/2025-03-atheists-secular-countries-intuitive-religious.html)
QuoteNew research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that atheists in some of the world's most secular countries show an intuitive preference for religious belief over atheism.
The study, by academics at Brunel University of London, Royal Holloway, University of London, and other institutions, was conducted across eight countries with low levels of religion, Canada, China, Czechia, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the U.K., and Vietnam. It provides compelling cross-cultural experimental evidence that pro-religious intuitions happen even in societies that have become largely secular.
Using a simple task based on the "Knobe effect," the researchers examined how people infer intentionality in circumstances where a person's actions knowingly caused individuals to either become religious believers or atheists.
The Knobe effect is a well-established psychological phenomenon demonstrating that people are more likely to attribute intentionality to an action with harmful (versus helpful) consequences.
Across all countries, participants were more likely to judge that an action knowingly causing a shift toward atheism was intentional, suggesting people intuitively see religious belief as preferable.
Notably, even self-identified atheists exhibited this.
Dr. Will Gervais, from Brunel University of London, who led the study, said, "Even in societies where explicit religious belief has rapidly declined, the idea that belief, in itself is good, appears to persist at an intuitive level.
[Continues . . . (https://phys.org/news/2025-03-atheists-secular-countries-intuitive-religious.html)]
There is a preprint version of the paper available:
"Belief in Belief: Even Atheists in Secular Countries Show Intuitive Preferences Favoring Religious Belief" |
PsyArXiv (https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/nv2ge_v2)
QuoteAbstract:
We find evidence of belief in belief – intuitive preferences for religious belief over atheism, even among atheist participants – across 8 comparatively secular countries. Religion is a cross-cultural human universal, yet explicit markers of religiosity have rapidly waned in large parts of the world in recent decades. We explored whether intuitive religious influence lingers, even among nonbelievers in largely secular societies. We adapted a classic experimental philosophy task to test for this intuitive belief in belief among people in eight comparatively nonreligious countries: Canada, China, Czechia, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, and Viet Nam (total N = 3804).
Our analyses revealed strong evidence that (1) people intuitively favor religious belief over atheism and that (2) this pattern was not moderated by participants' own self-reported atheism. Indeed, (3) even atheists in relatively secular societies intuitively prefer belief to atheism.
These inferences were robust across different analytic strategies, and across other measures of individual differences in religiosity and religious instruction. Although explicit religious belief has rapidly declined in these countries, it's possible that belief in belief may still persist. These results speak to the complex psychological and cultural dynamics of secularization.
Interesting.
Delving into the human psyche are we?
Religious belief can be, and often is, the last resort for doubters who are addressing the mysteries of life and/or contemplating the inevitable end of it.
So far I have not been much troubled by the hand of God or the threats of eternal damnation. What the hell? I may change my attitude when subjected to unanticipated circumstances.
I don't believe in belief.
Yeah... Atheism is the absence of faith in gods. You can substitute those with a whole bunch of equally-to-even-less savory alternatives. Ideology, for one. Even stuff like nutrition may be turned into an object of faith.
The findings do not surprise me in the least.