Model Says Religiosity Gene Will Dominate Society

[CJ1145]

Sex jokes?

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Horses aren't religious. Just sayin'.

 

[BattleOfValmy]

And here I thought we were finished blaming **** on genes. Seriously, religiosity sounds fake as hell. Somebody in the Naming Department needs to get their ass fired for that.

But seriously, um, I don't even know what to do about this. If religiosity, or as I like to call it, religitude,  was actually determined by which people ****ed which other people, we'd have stamped out the agnostilocity gene a long time ago.

Oh look, someone else failed to read and/or comprehend the article, or even read the first page.

 

[CJ1145]

Oh look, someone else failed to read and/or comprehend the article, or even read the first page.

The irony in this post is mother****in painful

 

[DameGreyWulf]

Okay, unsimplified, it's more like we have x behaviour because y thing happened to our great grandma and our genes "remember" it.

Such as, your great grandma was mauled by a bear as a child, so you are predisposed to being afraid of bears.

 

[BattleOfValmy]

Oh look, someone else failed to read and/or comprehend the article, or even read the first page.

The irony in this post is mother****in painful

You made the same sort of blind, silly assumption Selothi made on the first page, thinking the point was that religion is caused by genes, when the actual point is a combination of factors makes someone more likely to be religious, and converesly, can also make someone more likely to be secular/non-theistic, and those factors are caused by genes. No where did it say that "if you have x allele, YOU WILL BE RELIGIOUS, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO BE!" and to read into it like that is being dishonest.

 

[DameGreyWulf]

I prefer Arch's deduction.

 

[BattleOfValmy]

His is more critical and snide, so it is more enjoyable to read, I know :/

 

[DameGreyWulf]

Or it just makes more sense.

I'd believe this theory better if it said something more like "you could be genetically predisposed to being paranoid," which is all spirituality does boil down to. In which case, no ****.

 

[CJ1145]

You made the same sort of blind, silly assumption Selothi made on the first page, thinking the point was that religion is caused by genes, when the actual point is a combination of factors makes someone more likely to be religious, and converesly, can also make someone more likely to be secular/non-theistic, and those factors are caused by genes. No where did it say that "if you have x allele, YOU WILL BE RELIGIOUS, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO BE!" and to read into it like that is being dishonest.

valmy you are one deadass serious mother****er, and I respect that.

BUT SOMETIMES YOU'RE A BIT TOO MOTHER****IN SERIOUS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD Do:

you've gotta get with the program.

GOTTA GET WITH THE MOTHER****IN PROGRAM.

learn to take a joke D

LEARN IT OR DIE, MOTHER****ER Do:

honk

HONK HONK

Spoiler

Cookie for reference getting.

**** what was in those brownies...

 

[Taimat396]

Eh, it's fair enough if taken a bit extreme.

Genes basically set the framework for how you think, in combination with environment. So saying x,y and z genes make someone more inclined to believe stuff of x and y variety makes sense.

Calling it a religion gene is bull****.

 

[BattleOfValmy]

He's being pretty inflammatory in how he presents his argument, but that doesn't mean there's no validity to it. He's not claiming that all organized religion comes from someone's genes, or that the only reason people are religious is because of their genes. What he presents is the argument that genes could have some impact on whether or not someone chooses to belong to an organized religion, or be secular. Then he shows how, if that's the case, the cultural pressure of most organized religions on their followers to produce large quantities of children would make those particular genes that influence people's thoughts on religion, however slightly, to become dominant.

Or it just makes more sense.

I'd believe this theory better if it said something more like "you could be genetically predisposed to being paranoid," which is all spirituality does boil down to. In which case, no ****.

That's almost exactly what it says. Except about paranoid tendencies being the cause of spirituality, because that's bull****. Spirituality is not organized religion, either. Organized religion encompasses some spirituality in their rituals, but it's still more than that. Spirituality is a belief in the immaterial, and also believing that those immaterial things can show you why we are here, what's our goal in life. I also like Carl Sagan's more broad interpretation of "spirituality" when he uses it to describe the sort of awed emotions you feel when looking at the beauty, complexity and in some cases fragility of the world around us.

To say those sort of feelings stem from paranoia doesn't make any sense, to me.

 

[DameGreyWulf]

Fine, religiousness.
You do realize there's more to religion than to be in an organized one, right? Plenty of people do not adhere to a particular doctrine but still claim to be religious.

How is the belief that you're being watched, that everything is alive, that there are spirits, and other such beliefs in beings existing beyond your scope, NOT paranoia?

 

[BattleOfValmy]

Fine, religiousness.
You do realize there's more to religion than to be in an organized one, right? Plenty of people do not adhere to a particular doctrine but still claim to be religious.

How is the belief that you're being watched, that everything is alive, that there are spirits, and other such beliefs in beings existing beyond your scope, NOT paranoia?

Yeah, of course, but the genetic traits he was talking about (being part of a group, obedience, etc.) applied to people who were predisposed to being in an organized religion. He's not really making statements on people who are religious, but follow they're own set of guidelines, morals, rules, rituals, etc.

Also, spirituality is merely the belief that some things are immaterial, saying those things are watching you, that they inhabit everything, that these immaterial things are the souls of the dead is jumping past base spirituality and into actual full-blown religion.

 

[DameGreyWulf]

Yeah, of course, but the genetic traits he was talking about (being part of a group, obedience, etc.)...

You mean those traits most everyone has because we're a pack animal?

 

[BattleOfValmy]

Yeah, but you can't make the claim that everyone has the same propensity towards obedience or belonging towards a group, otherwise we'd have no rebels or social loners.

And, if you make the claim that the propensity for those two factors is entirely environment-based, then I'm afraid you've lost me, because genes have an affect on everything we are and do, however slight.

 

[DameGreyWulf]

Yeah, but you can't make the claim that everyone has the same propensity towards obedience or belonging towards a group, otherwise we'd have no rebels or social loners.

The fact is everybody has a degree of this, it's common sense, and as such you could just as easily say some people have an alle that determines if they'll be inclined to join the gay club on campus or some ****. It's a ridiculously generic thing he's taking and trying to make it mean something fantastical. Especially considering secularism is also a group with its own leaders.

So you're one of the nutters who believes everything has a gene?

Well I guess I like cats because I'm predisposed to. I'll call it the felinosity alle.

 

[BattleOfValmy]

Yeah, but you can't make the claim that everyone has the same propensity towards obedience or belonging towards a group, otherwise we'd have no rebels or social loners.

So you're one of the nutters who believes everything has a gene?

Well I guess I like cats because I'm predisposed to. I'll call it the felinosity alle.

Thanks for strawmanning my argument. Not once did I say "everything has a gene." I said "everything we think or do is influenced, however slightly by our genes.

The fact is everybody has a degree of this, it's common sense, and as such you could just as easily say some people have an alle that determines if they'll be inclined to join the gay club on campus or some ****. It's a ridiculously generic thing he's taking and trying to make it mean something fantastical. Especially considering secularism is also a group with its own leaders.

If they have genes that cause a propensity for joining clubs, and they're also gay, then yes, I'd say there's at least some chance that they would join a gay club on campus. I wouldn't, however, say they they will join one, or that they must because their genes say so.

Secularism doesn't require organized groups, and most secular people don't belong to them. It's hard to equate the sort of strict, hierarchical and strongly bonded groups of organized religion to small groups of secular people with not very stringent rules, and no real unifying bond other than "we don't believe in any religions."

 

[DameGreyWulf]

You see, what's basically being said here is that some people are more likely to join groups than others.

Calling it "religiosity" is just idiotic. It's just a predisposition to want to be in a group. Which most everyone has anyway..

Thanks for strawmanning my argument. Not once did I say "everything has a gene." I said "everything we think or do is influenced, however slightly by our genes.

So you DO believe I'm genetically predisposed to liking cats?

 

[BattleOfValmy]

You see, what's basically being said here is that some people are more likely to join groups than others.

Calling it "religiosity" is just idiotic. It's just a predisposition to want to be in a group. Which most everyone has anyway..

Alright, I'll concede that.

Thanks for strawmanning my argument. Not once did I say "everything has a gene." I said "everything we think or do is influenced, however slightly by our genes.

So you DO believe I'm genetically predisposed to liking cats?

What I'm saying is that that's possible. You could just as easily be predisposed to liking dogs, but some sort of negative environment influence stopped that predispostion, and you instead chose to like cats.