The Atheistic Mind

In The God Gene¹, Dean Hamer demonstrates scientifically that spirituality originates from within. The predisposition to faith and religion is inherited. In other words, it's in a person's genes.

Bruce Hood comes up with the same conclusion in his book Supersense². Looking at the broader picture, he examines supernaturalism and shows that young children are highly receptive to supernatural beliefs and that these various beliefs are inculcated by adults.

So it's normal to want to believe in the supernatural. We are all born with the need to believe and we are then, to a greater or lesser degree, taught supernatural beliefs by family and society. Some people, however, manage to overcome this tendency and become antisupernaturalist in their thinking.

An article in New Scientist³ asks "Where do atheists come from?". A study in 2007 at the University of Oxford found that 57% of students there label themselves as atheist or agnostic. In 2008 the British Social Attitudes survey found 43% of people in the UK had no religion. The article goes on to say:  "If religion comes naturally to us, why are so many people resistant to it?".

1. Dean Hamer, The God Gene, Anchor UK 2005
2. Bruce Hood, Supersense, Constable UK 2009
3. Lee & Bullivant, New Scientist, 6 March 2010 (Australian Edition).