ANXIETY MAY INFLUENCE BELIEF IN INTELLIGENT DESIGN

[_Quasimodo]

Just another short article about research on why people believe what they do.

So why do people support intelligent design without scientific proof, especially when claims on evolution are backed by science?

http://news.discovery.com/human/my-entry.html

[_Buffalo]

It's not surprising that belief in unscientific ideas about origins is emotions-driven. But it's always nice to have a study for the purpose of going "neener neener" :D

[_Some Schmo]

I have maintained for years that belief in the irrational was motivated by comfort. This is absolutely no surprise.

People would like to think it's more complex than that, but at the deepest levels, animals are motivated by what suppresses pain and gives comfort. It's pretty simple.

[_basilII]

Reading that article increased my anxiety. I believe that was by design.

Don't paranoid people see pattern and significance in everything? Apparently random patterns of words in the daily newspaper are really coded messages from extraterrestrials. My car didn't start this morning; it must be sabotage by my jealous colleagues at work. Or an earthquake in Japan is a clear sign that the end times are here.

But then again, the belief that the world has a rational structure, that it is not all unintelligible chaos without meaningful causality, has had huge payoffs in terms of science. The ability to see pattern and structure in things is not always a bad thing.

[_GR33N]

I have maintained for years that belief in the irrational was motivated by comfort. This is absolutely no surprise.

People would like to think it's more complex than that, but at the deepest levels, animals are motivated by what suppresses pain and gives comfort. It's pretty simple.

I agree Schmo, belief in the irrational evolutionary theory is motivated by a persons desire to be more comfortable with an explanation that leaves out God.

[_Quasimodo]

I agree Schmo, belief in the irrational evolutionary theory is motivated by a persons desire to be more comfortable with an explanation that leaves out God.

What's irrational about evolution? It seems like the MOST rational theory to me.

[_Buffalo]

I have maintained for years that belief in the irrational was motivated by comfort. This is absolutely no surprise.

People would like to think it's more complex than that, but at the deepest levels, animals are motivated by what suppresses pain and gives comfort. It's pretty simple.

I agree Schmo, belief in the irrational evolutionary theory is motivated by a persons desire to be more comfortable with an explanation that leaves out God.

Following the evidence is irrational. Attributing all things to the Celestial Mammal is rational. Got it.

[_Some Schmo]

I agree Schmo, belief in the irrational evolutionary theory is motivated by a persons desire to be more comfortable with an explanation that leaves out God.

I'll assume your "understanding" of evolution is limited (at best) and leave it at that.

This is what happens when people get their information on evolution from christian sources. Christian "education" is rarely rational.