Are people
born with an innate idea of God or is it a learnt concept?
The debate
whether children are born into the world with a predisposed knowledge of God, or
whether as humans we are merely born with a sense of curiosity which we replace
with the divine, continues to be a struggling argument for the existence of
God. This poses the question: despite theological claims, do we have reason to
believe that we are born believers in God?
On the
surface I was curious to know what people’s immediate responses would be to
such an in-depth question. Through researching on the internet and asking
people I know personally, I was astonished to find out that most of the replies
I received disagreed with the idea that we could be born with an innate idea of
God. Many of the reactions I received held the view that the concept of God was,
and still is, merely passed down from parents, relatives, friends and society
through each generation. I also found responses which stated that the human
mind is naturally geared to try and work things out. However, when it is a
struggle for us to find a convincing answer a god is a good enough explanation
to fulfil the gap in such situations. Others purported that the answer lies
within the human imagination, for if everyone was without knowledge where has
any concept arisen from? However, is religion not a far reaching concept for
someone to imagine out of nowhere? Or can we use the analogy of language; that like
religion we are born without knowledge and so have to be taught in order to
know?
Dr Justin
Barrett, a senior researcher at the University of Oxford's Centre for
Anthropology and Mind, claims that young people have a predisposition to
believe in a supreme being because they assume that everything in the world was
created with a purpose. He states that young children have faith even when they
have not been taught about it by family or at school, and argues that even
those raised alone on a desert island would come to believe in God. In one
study conducted by Dr Barrett six and seven year olds were asked why the first
bird existed, and replied "to make nice music" and "because it
makes the world look nice". Another
experiment on 12-month-old babies suggested that they were surprised by a film
in which a rolling ball apparently created a neat stack of blocks from a
disordered heap. Dr Barrett stated this as evidence that from an early age children
understand the natural world is different from manmade objects. He added that
this means children are more likely to believe in creationism rather than
evolution, despite what they may be told by parents or teachers, claiming that "Children's
normally and naturally developing minds make them prone to believe in divine
creation and intelligent design. In contrast, evolution is unnatural for human
minds; relatively difficult to believe."
The findings
of Bruce Hood, professor of developmental psychology at Bristol University, similarly
suggests that supernatural beliefs are hardwired into our brains from birth,
and that religions are therefore tapping into a powerful psychological force
that already exists. His work, supported by other researchers, suggests that people
are programmed to receive a feeling of spirituality. Professor Hood believes
research shows children have a natural, intuitive way of reasoning that leads
them to all kinds of supernatural beliefs about how the world works.
These findings challenge atheists such as
Richard Dawkins, who have long argued that religious beliefs result from poor
education and childhood 'indoctrination'. However, supporters of the counter
argument that everyone is born atheist and religion is learned, claim that we
are born forgivably an ‘ignorant sort’ of which we couldn’t be anything more.
Thus, the fact that we don’t visibly display knowledge of God isn’t, alone, very
interesting since, when people call themselves
atheists, they don’t usually mean to convey their ignorance. What is more
interesting to talk about is the kind of beliefs that babies unaided by religion
naturally form as their minds develop. Dr R. Elisabeth Cornwell, an evolutionary
psychologist, who I came across while researching claims that we are born
scientists. Dr Cornwall uses the example that when babies sit in their
highchairs and throw stuff off they observe what their caregiver does. The
caregiver will presumably pick the object up, which will delight the baby for
they have received a response, so they will then drop the object again. However
while doing this the baby’s observing that the object always falls, and so the
baby is also testing gravity. Dr Cornwall states that babies start off with
nothing, but then through our natural instincts start to test the world: ‘Then
somehow adults send them off to school where we kill the little scientist
within them.’ Dr Cornwall states that religion isn’t born within us; it is used
as a way to close doors for young and curious minds to explore and to ask
questions. This supports the view from the counter argument stance that, without
submersion into religion as a child, we would most likely maintain the position
of a person without knowledge of faith.
As a whole
there is no absolute answer, therefore making all claims merely speculations. It
is up to us, as individuals, to decide subjectively what we believe. From
researching and discussing such an in-depth topic myself, I have definitely
opened my mind to new ideas, exploring the possibilities of other points of
view.
By D.J
