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Do not fill this in! ==Skeptical interpretations== [[File:Lightning cloud to cloud (aka).jpg|thumb|The Greek philosopher [[Democritus]] argued that belief in deities arose when humans observed natural phenomena such as [[lightning]] and attributed such phenomena to supernatural beings.]] {{See also|Evolutionary origin of religions|Evolutionary psychology of religion|Neurotheology}} Attempts to rationally explain belief in deities extend all the way back to ancient Greece.<ref name="Burkert"/>{{rp|311β317}} The Greek philosopher [[Democritus]] argued that the concept of deities arose when human beings observed natural phenomena such as lightning, [[solar eclipse]]s, and the changing of the seasons.<ref name="Burkert"/>{{rp|311β317}} Later, in the third century BCE, the scholar [[Euhemerus]] argued in his book ''Sacred History'' that the gods were originally flesh-and-blood mortal kings who were [[Apotheosis|posthumously deified]], and that religion was therefore the continuation of these kings' mortal reigns, a view now known as [[Euhemerism]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Winiarczyk|first1=Marek|title=The "Sacred History" of Euhemerus of Messene|date=2013|translator-last=Zbirohowski-KoΕcia|translator-first=Witold|publisher=Walther de Gruyter|location=Berlin|isbn=978-3-11-029488-0|pages=27β68|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OWS8TUTWLvAC&q=Sacred+History|access-date=16 October 2020|archive-date=31 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831002219/https://books.google.com/books?id=OWS8TUTWLvAC&q=Sacred+History|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Sigmund Freud]] suggested that God concepts are a projection of one's father.<ref name="Barrett">{{cite journal|last1=Barrett|first1=Justin L.|last2=Keil|first2=Frank C.|title=Conceptualizing a Nonnatural Entity: Anthropomorphism in God Concepts|journal=Cognitive Psychology|date=December 1996|volume=31|issue=3|pages=219β247|doi=10.1006/cogp.1996.0017|pmid=8975683|url=http://www.yale.edu/cogdevlab/aarticles/conceptualizingnonnaturalentity.pdf|access-date=28 June 2017|citeseerx=10.1.1.397.5026|s2cid=7646340|archive-date=27 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160327024245/http://www.yale.edu/cogdevlab/aarticles/conceptualizingnonnaturalentity.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> A tendency to believe in deities and other supernatural beings may be an integral part of the human consciousness.<ref name="AtranNorensayan">{{cite journal|last1=Atran|first1=Scott|last2=Norensayan|first2=Ara|title=Religion's evolutionary landscape: Counterintuition, commitment, compassion, communion|journal=Behavioral and Brain Sciences|date=2005|volume=27|issue=6|pages=713β770|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url=http://www2.psych.ubc.ca/~ara/Manuscripts/AtranNorenzayanBBS.pdf|doi=10.1017/S0140525X04000172|pmid=16035401|s2cid=1177255|access-date=24 January 2018|archive-date=31 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180131185248/http://www2.psych.ubc.ca/~ara/Manuscripts/AtranNorenzayanBBS.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Spiegel">{{cite news|last1=Spiegel|first1=Alex|title=Is Believing In God Evolutionarily Advantageous?|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129528196|work=NPR|agency=National Public Radio|publisher=National Public Radio, Inc.|date=30 August 2010|access-date=24 January 2018|archive-date=25 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180125134546/https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129528196|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Alleyne|first1=Richard|title=Humans 'evolved' to believe in God: Humans may have evolved to believe in God and superstitions because it helps them co-ordinate group action better, scientists claim.|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/richard-alleyne/6146411/Humans-evolved-to-believe-in-God.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090910070521/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/richard-alleyne/6146411/Humans-evolved-to-believe-in-God.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 September 2009|work=The Daily Telegraph|agency=The Daily Telegraph|date=7 September 2009}}</ref><ref name="Barrett2012">{{cite book|last1=Barrett|first1=Justin L.|author-link=Justin L. Barrett|title=Born Believers: The Science of Children's Religious Belief|date=2012|publisher=Free Press|location=New York City|isbn=978-1-4391-9657-1|pages=15|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JVJsakBCGGQC&q=Why+did+humans+evolve+to+believe+in+deities%3F|ref=Barrett|access-date=16 October 2020|archive-date=31 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831002237/https://books.google.com/books?id=JVJsakBCGGQC&q=Why+did+humans+evolve+to+believe+in+deities%3F|url-status=live}}</ref>{{rp|2β11}} Children are naturally inclined to believe in supernatural entities such as gods, spirits, and demons, even without being introduced into a particular religious tradition.<ref name="Barrett2012"/>{{rp|2β11}} Humans have an overactive agency detection system,<ref name="AtranNorensayan"/><ref name="Guthrie">{{cite book|last=Guthrie|first=Stewart Elliot|title=Faces in the Clouds: A New Theory of Religion |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1995|isbn=978-0-19-506901-3}}</ref><ref name="Barrett2012"/>{{rp|25β27}} which has a tendency to conclude that events are caused by intelligent entities, even if they really are not.<ref name="AtranNorensayan"/><ref name="Guthrie"/> This is a system which may have evolved to cope with threats to the survival of human ancestors:<ref name="AtranNorensayan"/> in the wild, a person who perceived intelligent and potentially dangerous beings everywhere was more likely to survive than a person who failed to perceive actual threats, such as wild animals or human enemies.<ref name="AtranNorensayan"/><ref name="Barrett2012"/>{{rp|2β11}} Humans are also inclined to think teleologically and ascribe meaning and significance to their surroundings, a trait which may lead people to believe in a creator-deity.<ref name="Keleman">{{cite journal|last1=Keleman|first1=Deborah|title=The scope of teleological thinking in preschool children|journal=Cognition|date=1999|volume=70|issue=3|pages=241β272|url=https://www.bu.edu/cdl/files/2013/08/1999_Kelemen_Scope.pdf|doi=10.1016/S0010-0277(99)00010-4|pmid=10384737|s2cid=29785222|access-date=25 January 2018|archive-date=24 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180324191533/http://www.bu.edu/cdl/files/2013/08/1999_Kelemen_Scope.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> This may have developed as a side effect of human social intelligence, the ability to discern what other people are thinking.<ref name="Keleman"/> Stories of encounters with supernatural beings are especially likely to be retold, passed on, and embellished due to their descriptions of standard ontological categories (person, artifact, animal, plant, natural object) with counterintuitive properties (humans that are invisible, houses that remember what happened in them, etc.).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/bec/papers/boyer_religious_concepts.htm|title=Functional Origins of Religious concepts|last=Boyer|first=Pascal|access-date=19 December 2009|author-link=Pascal Boyer|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091010010146/http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/anthro/bec/papers/boyer_religious_concepts.htm|archive-date=10 October 2009}}</ref> As belief in deities spread, humans may have attributed anthropomorphic thought processes to them,<ref name="boyer">{{cite book|last=Boyer|first=Pascal|title=Religion Explained: The Evolutionary Origins of Religious Thought|publisher=Basic Books|year=2001|author-link=Pascal Boyer|isbn=978-0-465-00695-3|url=https://archive.org/details/religionexplaine00boye}}</ref> leading to the idea of leaving offerings to the gods and praying to them for assistance,<ref name="boyer"/> ideas which are seen in all cultures around the world.<ref name="AtranNorensayan"/> [[Sociology of religion|Sociologists of religion]] have proposed that the personality and characteristics of deities may reflect a culture's sense of self-esteem and that a culture projects its revered values into deities and in spiritual terms. The cherished, desired or sought human personality is congruent with the personality it defines to be gods.<ref name="Barrett"/> Lonely and fearful societies tend to invent wrathful, violent, submission-seeking deities, while happier and secure societies tend to invent loving, non-violent, compassionate deities.<ref name="Barrett"/> [[Γmile Durkheim]] states that gods represent an extension of human social life to include supernatural beings. According to Matt Rossano, God concepts may be a means of enforcing [[morality]] and building more cooperative community groups.<ref name=supernature>{{cite journal |last=Rossano |first=Matt |title=Supernaturalizing Social Life: Religion and the Evolution of Human Cooperation |journal=Human Nature (Hawthorne, NY) |year=2007 |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=272β294 |doi=10.1007/s12110-007-9002-4 |pmid=26181064 |s2cid=1585551 |url=http://www2.selu.edu/Academics/Faculty/mrossano/recentpubs/Supernaturalizing.pdf |access-date=21 June 2009 |archive-date=3 March 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303101304/http://www2.selu.edu/Academics/Faculty/mrossano/recentpubs/Supernaturalizing.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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