http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16725-religion-may-be-a-product-of-our-evolved-brains.html

;The Secret Squirrel!

Cool article! Yeah I think this study targets the core issue. But I dont think it considers all aspects. Belief or even non belief is truely tested during the loss and mourning of a loved one. My mother passed away last week, and I have to admit my atheistic view was really tested. I can sincerely appreciate how and why people gravitate towards religious belief, just the nature of it helps process and accept the death of a loved one. Its hard to stand by logic when emotion is so high.

Its a nice thought to think you’ll be with your loved one again. Thats all I have to say about that....

Condolences, Mo…

Condolences as well.....perhaps you will create a nice piece in her memory on the new XS.

Yes, sorry about your mother, MoGut. There was a strange coincidence and a particularly vivid dream after my father died that I was sorely tempted to ascribe to mystical doings. I won’t go into the coincidence, but here’s the dream seven years later: I dreamed my father came back and I was walking along beside him, conversing happily. I wanted to ask him how this could be, but the question seemed a bit tactless and threatened to spoil the occasion. Eventually I did summon the courage to ask, and now I forget exactly how he answered, but I remember he was perfectly aware that he had died and found nothing paradoxical about this, and there was also some sort of discussion of how painful his death had been. Anyway, the dream seemed so real that when I woke, still groggy and disoriented, for a while I was convinced he’d actually visited me in my sleep, and I can’t honestly say I’ve completely, absolutely, with every bit of my being, rejected the idea yet. (My father, by the way, was an agnostic for at least as long as I knew him.)

Ad rem: I have to say I think very little of this experiment as described in the article. I don’t see that it tells us anything we didn’t already know.

Thanks for the kind words fellas.

As for the referenced article, its too bad science can only go so far with research on the brain. Until then religion im sure will always disregard any conclusions.