Dear Sir,
Researches give birth to inventions and discovery. But researching on this subject does not amaze me. As I already know someone who is after this research and knows a quiet much on this subject. so, what ? I just want to say why waste so much on these type of researces, when a person already is doing so, and have reached certain conclusion. So before going on any researches you can have his views too. You can email me on my id.
Personally, What I want to convey about the Statement is one who belives in God feels his/her presence and warmth in every task. moment, aspect of life, and his presence near you produces faith in almighty.
Thanks

Bhavesh Bhanchawat, Indore, India

A child (say a five year old) can not understand a topic which is beyond its intellectual level (for example, a Maths concept meant for a high school child). Similarly, a concept called "God" is probably beyond our human intellectual capacity. What we currently "know" about this concept is probably the tip of the iceberg of a wider whole. We need to penetrate deeper into this iceberg. This research project may perhaps enable such a penetration

Jebasingh Fredrick, Chennai, India

I guess us atheists have outgrown the three year old mindset so well they might be called adults?

Kevin Hollingsworth, Lincoln, UK

if i can see it and touch it then its real

kelly roberts, taunton, UK,

Orderliness in the Universe namely the ordinary and the extraordinary astronomical phenomena lead to human belief in the existence of a superhuman caalled Almighty. Therefore belief in diety is a matter of nature. The esoteric meaning of the Solar System of which our mother Earth is a member clearly explains the evolutionary advantage conferred on mankind into this belief. According Hindu phylosophy evolution is both continuous and cosmic whereas Darwins idea of evolution as a continuous process alone is not valid as with the appearance of human evolution has come to a grinding halt. So, there is any amount of justification in a research project of this nature to elicit truth for it a does help the humanity to overcome materialism, the cause of all ills in the world.

Y. V. SUBBA RAO, CHENNAI CITY, Tamilnadu, India

Humans embrace God...that is nature...nature is God and God is nothing but nature. He repents for mistakes committed against nature. Humans got deviated from natural thoughts because of his invention of materliastic phonetic sylables...that is... his so called communication weapon; languages, its words and its meanings. Except humans, the culprits against nature, no other living entity is against God... that is Nature. Humans are unable to come out of the clutches of these so called materialistic phonetic syllables and so are deviated from pure natural thoughts to sense God. He has lost his pure state of mind for mere fulfillment of material ambitions and in the course lost his spiritual attitude for sensing the Godlines within him. Lastly it is funny to note that he is unable to find words to list out the reasons for the question "Why mankind embrace God?'.
The subject appearing here can be eloborated by me to a wide scale. My upcoming ashram in India could satisfy the search GOD.

S.Rajendran, Tamilnadu, India

This is a waste of money. Because God is so vast and other He is outside our understanding and His ways are a mystery, even to the god of science.
It is through the gracious and sovereign work of God that people truly believe, see Ephesians 2:8 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God."
Why not spend the £1.9 millions on free Bibles, then more people would be able to answer this question and, even, perhaps believe, assuming God choses them ( Ephesians 1:4 )!

Rev Jim Pye, Knebworth, U.K.

A man made conception, as a social tool of control.

No different now, to over 2000+ years ago.

There is no god, only the subjective priveliege of the ignorant.

F.S.Summers, NY,

As mankind may have not evolved due to natural selective processes the basis for the research is flawed. If mankind is 'hard-wired' to believe in deities it would point to some form of Intellegent Design.

Therapon, Cardiff, UK

I used to believe but now I don't. Therefore I would go for nurture. I was not born with a concept of God that was instilled through parents and the society I live in. As I grew up I thought about it more and more and eventually realised that I had no evidence for such a belief. I still have spirituality but I don't ascribe the concept of a God too it. I had to jump through too many hoops to make the God thing work I am better off without it and my life has changed for the better.

Duncan, Stoke-on-Trent,

sarah, in order to fail to believe something is true, it is not necessary to prove that thing is impossible. you need grounds to believe. no grounds, no belief.

jem, london, uk

Self-Subjucation through Fearful Faith versus
Self-Satisfaction through Reasoned Understanding

P. A. DEPLAND, Lake Wales, Florida, USA

Now I am going to answer the second question "Why do we trust the god?".

Do you remember who tell you about the god? You may know this answer, but you know who is the first person say about the god? You may not know and then I also don know of that, but I try to reason why do the first person say about god.

I think the first person also know the pervious main answer of "Why do we need a God ?", so he want to use it to change the world. You want to ask how to use it change the world?
When you are young, you also know you can be protected from your parents and you will get a benefit from them if you defer to them. Now I talk to you if you defer to the something, the something can protect you and give you a benefit. After you heard, I think you still may not trust it. However, Will you trust it if there are a lot of example or people (like your best friend, expert, other people that can give you the trust, etc... )proving or saying this is true? Please read the next comment

Leo Lam, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Continue the last comment
"Will you trust it if there are a lot of example or people (like your best friend, expert, other people that can give you the trust, etc... )proving or saying this is true?"
Some people will trust it, but some will not trust it because they never trust anything that is they never seen. Now the first person say if you do not defer to something, you will get your bad luck or being punished. If you encounter the unhappy thing or feel unfortunately one day, you may think the reason. When you are thinking, will you trust the something is real if you remember someone talk to you about you will be punished if you don't defer to something.
Now there will be more people trust something is real.
Now the situation is like today that some totally trust the god, some may trust the god, some still don't trust the god because some people still never encounter unfortunately thing or their will is strong.
Please read the next comment

Leo Lam, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

I fear the money will be wasted if justin barrett's comments on 3-year olds are any guide. who says 3-year olds "naturally" assume other people know everything? surely, they begin to assume this because other people are always telling them what to do and seem to know a lot? ie - they are nurtured into thinking that.

presumably, dr barrett doesn't want us to think belief in god is infantile and we should reject the concept when we "grow up" and start to experience events which suggest god doesn't know or care what is going on?

people believe in god because they cannot otherwise explain the world in which they find themselves and they are not comfortable accepting their ignorance. quite why they forgive his obvious cruelty and caprice is not so easy to understand.

the more interesting question is why other people want you to believe in god. it's usually because they don't.

jem, london, uk

Although my english is not good and my answer may not true or too simple, I also want to leave a comment.

Before I answer this question, I need to divide 2 questions. A main question is "Why do we need a God ?"and Sub question is "Why do we trust the god?"

Now I am going to answer the first question.
I think the humans trust the god because the human is afraid of being hurt in the world. From the afraid the humans want to find a ways to avoid the hurt, but the humans is smart than other animals that we known, so we know there is no possible way can be 100% prevent the hurt. However, the human try to deceive themselves there is something that is stronger than them so much and then the humans also think they are made from something, so that something will treat them so good like mother love their a son or daughter. From they trust something can protect them the human can feel they are safe in the world and then their worried can be reduced.

Leo Lam, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

I think this is an amazing waste of money, that could be used to help people all over the world. It seems to me that the answer is clear, we believe in God because there's a God, and more that that, He created us in His image and with the desire to know Him, as much as a Father desires to be known and loved by His kids. He also sent His only son to us, Jesus Christ, as an atonement for our sins, and as way to reconcile men and God's realtionship.
Believing it or not is your choice, but wasting money pretending to make the thing 'scientific' is ridicuolus, because it's a matter of faith and it is personal. God is speaking to us, but is up to you to listen or not. Jesus says we need to be like children to enter the kingdom of God, so I wish you will be more humble approaching Him, we may not feel like it, but He is there and He has some standards, and He is going to judge all of us in the last days, either you like it or not!
God is a loving God and doesn't want anybody to perish...

Alice Carzedda, Haikou (PRC),

Just believe in Jesus and be saved, is that simple!

Alice, Haikou, china,

I will be very interested in learning of their findings. My own belief on this issue is that nurture gives detail to nature. Also I know of no person of faith that does not wish to believe. Everyone I have encountered who believes in creationism has not found themselves not wanting to believe. Perhaps the study will show that there is also merit to my view that there is undoubtedly a degree of comfort and mental well being in having faith. That it has the ability to quell the anxieties and fears we have of the world and our lives, that this may be an evolutionary mechanism, a way our mind protects itself. Not to forget the more conventional areas for our belief of God/s and religious practice.

*Agnostic (don't tell Dawkins)

Jordan Craig, Scotland,

The first question is: do we believe in the Templeton Foundation?

Jim, Adelaide, Australia

Well Father Storey, you are entitled to your view of course. But I don't relate to any deities in my everyday life and I don't feel anything vital is missing.

I do however tend to think that people who say such things are just a little patronising, not to say soft in the head, and really should get out more.

Bill, Singapore, sin

If God is hard-wired into us, then why are there so many nonbelievers? Some people become atheists AFTER growing up as believers. The premise is ill-founded. The better question is, why do people have a "spiritual" side? I would argue that even atheists have this, precisely because they disbelieve, but can still love, stand in awe of nature and have a sense of ethics and morality. Disbelief is itself a statement about the human condition and the universe. And remember that not all religions have a god -- Buddhism for example, is non-theist. So 2million is a lot of quid to be expended on a faulty idea.

Wayne H McCoy, Gainesville, Florida USA

Belief in a omniscient power capable of affecting directly the circumstance of every human being is nearly universal according to published surveys. Yet verifying that belief is impossible by scientifically acceptable techniques. Seeking to understand the basis for that belief is timely, at least in the Western world. Grasping the power of belief would be an important step in confronting those who use religion as a tool of subjugation and liberating the intellectual capacity of everyone else.

Bill, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Not relating to God in daily life is to have something vitally missing.

Father Bryan Storey, Tintagel, UK

This the era of the arrogant atheist - reading all these comments, I realise that the 'will of the majority' is upholding the view that God is just a construct of our minds, to which we cling for various psycho-social reasons.
Belief in God does not belong with ignorance or stupidity or fear; it is not the product of primitive modes of thought that will inevitably be swept away by 'science' or materialism.
Indeed, now that the Enlightenment is two or three centuries old, we are beginning to see that the discoveries of objective natural scientists do no more than confirm what sensible people have always seen - that the existing universe is a complex and orderly thing, subject to rational rules, not a confused chaos; and it is to be understood (and celebrated, and ruled) by us, the children of Adam and Eve.
That this is so demonstrates that it was created by a beneficent and supernatural God.
Alas, I have come to the end of my 1000 characters!

Priscus, Harrow, Middlesex, UK

The project seems to rest on paradox. If the origins of religious faith are hard-wired deep in our brains, and the study proves that the depths of our brains are capable of producing massive illusions to further our evolutionary self-interest, where does that leave human reason? And where does that leave our £1.9m study?

Can anyone explain?

Sam, Oxford,

Nature or nurture, does it matter?? Belief in God is only useful if it brings people close to God and enables one to practice being good. Religion/belief in God can give discipline and purpose which many people lack, resulting in lack of structure, cohesion and social responsibility. If one's naturally inclines towards being good is that because he has been created good by the gene pool or did god have a hand in directing that gene pool to go in a certain direction? If a person is naturally inclined towards evil, does that mean that god did not intervene in the gene pool selection and can one nurture that child towards being good? Religion is not about competition as to who is right or wrong, it is about taking from it concepts and behavior that will at least nurture us towards cohesive, social and moral responsibility that is so necessary. The problem arises when people convert religion to a weapon and then all of sudden it becomes the fault of God? How is it gods fault??

salma nasser, gerrards cross, buckinghamshire UK

£1.9 million on a study as to why we believe in God...Is it nature or nurture?
And the answer is.....
a) Everyone living has spiritual capacity..and the function of conscience. (Cultures a world apart share similar abhorrence regarding murder, adultery etc)
b) We need to be personally conscious of our spiritual need and the need for direction in life from our Maker.
So, the answer is nature, and nurture.
Please send the cheque to........

Peter S.Lewis, Bidford-on-Avon, UK

If a new tribe of people were to be discovered tomorrow in the Amazon, Congo or Milton Keynes you could guarantee they would have two characteristics -a language and a religion.

A language gives the word WHY? and religion answers those bits that can't be easily, at that point, answered.

As more bits of WHY? are explained then the influence of religion falls.

Alan, Oxford,

I look forward to the results of the study. One has to worry that one of the lead researchers is a Christian though. Rather like asking Exxon to do research into global warming ...

Mike, La Laguna, Spain

Ron of Milton Keynes, Bucks if you need your belief I will not quibble, if the reliance on the supernatural assists you through life then so be it but do not try to delude others. I am an atheist and I have been in more than one earthquake.

Lynn, Portsmouth,

Faith is blind

God only exists in one's mind

Stop wasting our precious time

The universe is governed by the law of physics

There will be simply no Heaven or Hell after we die!

Wing, Poole, UK

Ron in Milton Keynes says "There are no atheists in an earthquake"

This is exactly the point, and surely what this study will look into. Similarly, many atheist Republicans took the last rites before execution in the Spanish Civil War. Humans have invented gods to help alleviate fear of the unknown. But as we develop and begin to understand the world and ourselves, gods become more and more unnecessary. Unfortunately, there are those in the world who control through religion.

Charlie, Munich,

Religion is taught. It is nurture not nature. Religion comes from the mind of Man.

Sit quietly 20 minutes a day at morning and again in the evening.
Your higher brain functioning will be stimulated.
This is nature not nurture.

Spirituality comes from the mind of God.

Joy Tao, Boston , Massachusetts USA

Oh God, the cognitive pseudo-scientists have got hold of it. Now we will never know the answer. It will be buried deep in our collective subconsciousness along with Freud's Oedipal desire to fornicate with our mothers. Fornicate - that's a very cognitive word.

I think therefor I am.....a believer. Next we will be Chomskying on language universals and along with those 'intelligence' frauds of early cognitive 'science' and yet again create the scientific soul.

The answer, as several have said, is pretty damn simple - whatever gets us to 'go gentle into that dark night', we'll grab a hold of. Its straightforward avoidance behavior and damn good luck to you achieving it. Like Dawkins, I'll take the 20% chance that some god exists. If you want to see the actual mechanism - watch the superstition experiment.

That's £1.9 million - simple logic and research that's been known for 50 years.

Lets get to something real in this 21 century reformation.

Jack, Sarasota, US

Has anybody ever set out to prove a theory in evolutionary biology and failed?

_Felix, Nottingham,

Perhaps we could wait for the results of the study before we rubbish it? Studies and experiments have a habit of turning out surpirses.

Norman, Anstruther, UK

Ugh, I meant evolutionary *psychology*, not biology, of course.

_Felix, Nottingham,

It is indeed a fascinating question:
Why do some believe in the supernatural whilst others don't (can't)?
Both sides appear unable to understand (and often enough accept) the position of the other side.
It is obviously not merely a question of intelligence.
So what is it?
Forty years ago I wanted to do a doctorate on this very question, but never managed it. Now, at last, it appears someone is going to do some research into the matter.
As an atheist, I wonder if faith has something to do with fear, hope, self-deception or just gullibility. Or is it really in some people's genes?
As I said, it's a fascinating question.

alan, germany,

"(consider those Canadians who can put Prof. Dawkin's brain into a scanner and give even him a mystical experience),"

How would you know if they had or can accurately repeat a mystical experience. Becasue if God were to exist how would they know accurately what an experience whith God was like unless they experienced it? and if they havent why do they feel they have the say so out of all those within the world who profess to have had a mystical experience to have the "blueprint" for what communication with God is like?

Daniel.K, Keele University,

I am completely unreligious. It is so strange that my 4 year believes in god and talks about it once in a while. I never taught that to him. Anyway, sounds interesting, it's partly human nature.

susan, clifton, usa/clifton

"If just one of them proves to me that God does not exist, then I will shut up and accept that I am weak-willed, and an ignorant ill-educated idiot, with no intellect. ...Sarah, Berkshire"

Well, Sarah, I can't prove to you that there isn't a chocolate teapot orbiting the sun, piloted by the 3 blind mice. Does that mean you also believe in that ? You should - it has as much proof of its existence.

Clive, Surrey,

There are two guaranteed outcomes of this study:

1) The actual "reason" for belief in a God will be something so blindingly obvious to most people;

2) The person(s) submitting their £2m invoice for the study will undoubtedly be thinking there "is a God after all" as they take their cheque to the Bank!!

John Robinson, Thetford, UK

Cause and Effect is almost hard-wired in our brains - the recognition that if I do 'A' then 'B' will happen forms the basis of our ability to reason and spurred on our cognitive advancement. (You can see this spin out of control with people who suffer OCD for example and make too many links between cause and effect).

Given that this ability is at the core of our higher cognitive functions (and the fact that we have self-awareness) - it is only natural that we should believe that we are here for a reason. There must be a 'cause' for us being here, and the world being the way it is.....

Until Darwin, nobody came up with a decent explanation - so religion and belief in 'gods' had thousands of years to take hold. It has only been 150 years or so - give it time to sink in!! I mean there are still some people out there who think that the earth is only 6000 years old!!

Waitamin, Fife, UK

"It is easy, it is intuitive, it is natural. It fits our default assumptions about things."

Exactly. It's an ignorant person's answers to things they do not understand. Religion has lost every arguement it's ever had with science. The gaps are getting less and less and soon there will be no excuse ofr irrational belief systems.

John Ottaway, Glasgow,

Belief in God is socially normal - bad things happen, you look for a cause. Lacking a firm one, we turn to a concept of a punisher or dominant individual and attempt to propitiate that entity, not willing to concede that events are beyond our control. It would be an antisocial behavior not to attempt to conform or come back in line when punished, so whatever constructs we use are secondary to this primary response.

Pat, San Antonio,

God exixts! My God, the god of other religions, or indeed the same God from other perspectives is irrelevent. It is the belief that is important. What do I have to lose? Nothing! If I am right, I wil be proved right, if I am wrong, I will never know. Man can use science to copy of himself, how does he create the individuality existing inside us all, the soul? We all believe in God in some way, "There are no atheists in an earthquake". We believe in God because deep in our inherited memory, we know He exists. To those who say why does he allow atrocities to happen, because He gave us free will, to live our own lives without interference, to learn and grow, to take our place in His Kingdom. From time to time He shows His hand so we look in awe and try to duplicate His achievements. It His way of training us for our next job in His plan. A job so vast in scale, we cannot comprehend until our eternal soul is released from the confines of this mortal shell in His chosen time.

Ron, Milton Keynes, Bucks

I just love the way all the atheists are so smug, and self-satisfied with their own superior "intelligence" and pity the poor "illeducated" people who believe in God (in whatever form).
If just one of them proves to me that God does not exist, then I will shut up and accept that I am weak-willed, and an ignorant ill-educated idiot, with no intellect.

Sarah, Berkshire,

The answer is through nurture ... that'll be £1.9 million please . No cheques .

Benzo, Nr Chelmsford,

Well, I've read the current books by Dawkins, Dennett and Hitchens...and they all make sense....that man made God and not the other way round...and that Darwin explains everything with his evolution theory. The only trouble is when I have a troubled night...'dark night of the soul' and look for some comfort that this life will not end in nothingness and that there might be a way of seeing our loved ones again. Just a gullible fool I guess!!

Angela, London, England

It is absolutely necessary to conduct this study.

There's currently a debate about the existence of God. In comparison all other debates, even about topics like global warming, are trivial. If we can find out why people believe in God it goes some way to answering the question of whether there is a God.

Malcolm McLean, Bradford, UK

Language, words and the rest of man's cognitive creation cannot describe the beauty of a sun rise let alone spirituality and mysticism. It'll be interesting but I reckon that money could and should have been better used. It is ignorance an an innate inability to accept and enjoy human life that has caused bloodshed and untold thousands of deaths.

"Do for others what you want them to do for you." Jesus

"That which you hate do not do to your neighbour." Rabbi Hillel

"What you do not wish done to yourself, do not to others." Confucius

"Let none of you treat your brother in a way he himself would dislike to be treated." Qur'an

"Do not do to another what you would not like to be done to yourself; that is the meaning of the law - all other laws are variable." Mahabharata


Surely we would be better advised to accept and enjoy our differences. Would you rather live in a world where each person was a carbon copy of another?

George, Woodland, Co. Durham

What a huge waste of money. It seems these men are concerned with an obsession that religion is all in the brain. Maybe it is maybe it is not.

The 'idea' of God or Gods have been with us since the year dot, fairytales are a much more recent event in human existence.

I can tell you now there findings, it does take much to figure it out. They will have a 'eureka' moment when they will say it is evolution. Meanwhile they are wasting ££2million when it could be spent helping people, rather than trying to prove a point. Neither intellectual or morally right.

Steven, Buckhurst Hill,

Of course religion is derived from social evolution.

The only issue is that if we work all this out & disseminate the info, we're analysing our race into sociopathy.

Mark, Woking, UK

If they can answer that for just £2m it sounds like extremely good value for money!

My own 2p's worth is that belief in gods, plural, is likely to be neurological and therefore genetic (consider those Canadians who can put Prof. Dawkin's brain into a scanner and give even him a mystical experience), but that monotheistic religions will likely turn out to be political constructs (consider the birth of Atenism, and the Abrahamic faith's fairly obvious growth from polytheistic origins).

Ian Kemmish, Biggleswade, UK

What a total waste of time and money. If God in reality holds the characteristics usually associated with that entity - it would be necessary for that entity to have created some way of knowing that entity. In which case the people who "believe"( whatever that may mean as it seems to be mostly subjective) have some "evidence" to support that belief .

peter, hitchin,

Humans make up all sorts of inventive fairy stories to explain the world, god is just one of them. god didn't create man, man created god and all intelligent, educated people, should feel a small amount of pity for all the people who put so much belief in fantasy tales.

northlondonhippy, london, UK

You can't explain faith, true faith because it's not ours but a gift from God. Anybody without a true faith is unable to comprehend let alone explain the supernatural. Stop trying, because whatever words are arrived at, they will never encompass belief in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, nor the love of God for all who are His and know Him.
I used to be an unbeliever and rail just as others do, but God met me and changed my life forever. He sought me, not my wanting to understand God, not a decision I made, but I now know He loves me so much that His Son, Jesus, died for me and I now know He rose again and lives in victory.
Academic studies, especially anthropology (study of man), cannot explain or understand Theology (study of God) because man cannot understand the Creator of all things. Science and mans knowledge is so limited, but God knows all and is unchangeable.
There is a hope for all who find faith in reality, not academia.

Phil Anslow, Brentwood,

Exactly right, it's an unwillingness to accept one's own mortality and a crutch for the weak-willed that makes people run to religion instead of looking at the scientific truths all around them.

Paul Downes, Milton Keynes, Bucks

God is an idea.

Suresh, Fort Mac, Canada

I concur!!!!!!!!!!

Self Believer, Frisco, USA

It's not "nature or nurture".
It's stupidity or intellect.
When I was about 14 years old I realised that gods had no meaning in the real world.
What is the difference between the discarded Greek, Roman, Nordic religions and the current Christian, Muslem, Jewish religions - only complexity, they are all about power, control over normal people, and lies.
I've known that for 50 years - have you?

Ian, Solihull,