Belief in Afterlife, Ghosts, Astrology on the Rise

A new survey in Britain shows that 70 percent believe in the human soul and 53 percent believe in life after death. Conducted last fall for the think tank Theos, the survey also showed:

• 39 percent believe in ghosts
• 27 percent believe in reincarnation
• 22 percent believe in astrology or horoscopes
• 15 percent believe in fortune telling by Tarot cards

The think tank said the findings were "especially striking" when compared to the 1950s. Then only 10 percent of the public told Gallup they believed in ghosts, 7 percent said they believed in predicting the future by cards and 6 percent believed in astrology.

"The enlightenment optimism in the ability of science and reason to explain everything ended decades ago,” says Theos director Paul Woolley. "The extent of belief will probably surprise people, but the finding is consistent with other research we have undertaken. The results indicate that people have a very diverse and unorthodox set of beliefs.”

Click here for the BBC News article.

Greater Self-Control Linked to Religious Beliefs

"But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself." Daniel 1:8


In Science’s ongoing (and in my humble opinion, often fruitless) attempts to understand and to quantify “Religion,” we now have a new study linking religious behavior with self-control.

The study recently was conducted by University of Miami psychology professor Michael McCullough and concludes that religious people have more self-control than do their less religious counterparts. According to ScienceDaily:

These findings imply that religious people may be better at pursuing and achieving long-term goals that are important to them and their religious groups. This, in turn, might help explain why religious people tend to have lower rates of substance abuse, better school achievement, less delinquency, better health behaviors, less depression, and longer lives.

In this research project, McCullough evaluated eight decades worth of research on religion, which has been conducted in diverse samples of people from around the world. He found persuasive evidence from a variety of domains within the social sciences, including neuroscience, economics, psychology, and sociology, that religious beliefs and religious behaviors are capable of encouraging people to exercise self-control and to more effectively regulate their emotions and behaviors, so that they can pursue valued goals.

"The importance of self-control and self-regulation for understanding human behavior are well known to social scientists, but the possibility that the links of religiosity to self-control might explain the links of religiosity to health and behavior has not received much explicit attention," McCullough told ScienceDaily. "We hope our paper will correct this oversight in the scientific literature."

"Sacred" Goals Get More Energy

Among the conclusions the research team drew were:

• Religious rituals such as prayer and meditation affect the parts of the human brain that are most important for self-regulation and self-control;

• When people view their goals as "sacred," they put more energy and effort into pursuing those goals, and therefore, are probably more effective at attaining them;

• Religious lifestyles may contribute to self-control by providing people with clear standards for their behavior, by causing people to monitor their own behavior more closely, and by giving people the sense that God is watching their behavior;

• The fact that religious people tend to be higher in self-control helps explain why religious people are less likely to misuse drugs and alcohol and experience problems with crime and delinquency.

"By thinking of religion as a social force that provides people with resources for controlling their impulses (including the impulse for self-preservation, in some cases) in the service of higher goals, religion can motivate people to do just about anything," McCullough said.

Click here for the ScienceDaily article.

More Christians Willing to Share Heaven

Assumption of Mary Magdalene into Heaven, Domenichino 1620

There’s an old joke about the two Lutherans strolling through Heaven and they come upon a high stone wall.

“What’s over there, on the other side of the wall?” one asks the other.

“Shhhh. It’s the Catholics. They think they’re the only ones here.”

I'm sure we're all greatly relieved to see Christian beliefs loosening up regarding the hereafter. According to a major new survey, a majority of American Christians ~ 52 percent ~ now think at least some non-Christian faiths can lead to eternal life. And 80 percent name at least one non-Christian faith that can do so. These are among the key findings of a national survey conducted this past summer by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life among nearly 3,000 adults. According to the Pew Forum:

The poll also finds that roughly one-third of Americans (30%) believe that whether one achieves eternal life is determined by what a person believes, with nearly as many (29%) saying eternal life depends on one’s actions. One-in-ten Americans say the key to obtaining eternal life lies in a combination of belief and actions. The remaining one-third of the public says that something else is the key to eternal life, they don’t know what leads to eternal life or they don’t believe in eternal life.

The new survey asks those who say many religions can lead to eternal life whether or not they think a series of specific religions ~ including Judaism, Islam and Hinduism ~ can lead to eternal life, as well as whether they think atheists or people who have no religious faith can achieve eternal life. The findings confirm that most people who say many religions can lead to eternal life take the view that even non-Christian faiths can lead to eternal salvation.

Click here to read the survey’s detailed findings.

Americans Hold Strong Religious & Supernatural Beliefs: Jesus, UFOs, Witches, Astrology

Over 70% of Americans believe Jesus is the son of God and that he rose from the dead, according to Harris Poll results released last week.

Religious, metaphysical and supernatural beliefs still dominate the American psyche, while hard science is less believable. "Overall, more people believe in the devil, hell and angels than believe in Darwin´s theory of evolution," said a Harris Poll released late last week.

Eighty percent of the more than 2,000 respondents said they believe in God, and among those who attend church weekly, the number is 98 percent, according to a Washington Times report.

• Over seventy percent believe in miracles, 73 percent believe in heaven, 71 percent say Jesus is the son of God and 71 percent believe in angels.
• Seven out of 10 say Jesus Christ rose from the dead and that the Bible is, all or in part, the "Word of God."
• More than two-thirds - 68 percent - believe in the "survival of the soul after death" and describe themselves as religious.
• About 62 percent think that hell exists, 61 percent believe in the virgin birth and 59 percent say the devil exists.

Ghosts, UFOs, Witches Also Score High

In contrast, the Washington Times said fewer than half - 47 percent - believe in Darwin's theory of evolution. A third said they did not believe in it while 22 percent were not sure. A full 40 percent said they believe in creationism, though the question did not elaborate on exactly what that term meant.

Supernatural phenomena of other kinds attract Americans' attention.

Overall, 44 percent of the respondents said they believe in ghosts, 36 percent say UFOs are real while 31 percent believe in both witches and astrology. About a quarter believe in reincarnation, or "that you were once another person," the survey found.

"I think these numbers show that Americans are both devout and rebellious at the same time," said Steve Waldman, co-founder and editor in chief of Beliefnet, an online spiritual source that also polls the public. "Americans embrace key parts of tradition and faith, but they add other sorts of stuff, the supplementary beliefs that might not be on the approved list."

Click here for the Washington Times article.

Human Brain Contains a Specific "Hate Circuit"

Researchers have identified what they describe as a “hate circuit” in the human brain. "Hate is often considered to be an evil passion that should, in a better world, be tamed, controlled, and eradicated,” Semir Zeki, lead author of a study detailing the research, told Cosmos magazine. “Yet to the biologist, hate is a passion that is of equal interest to love."

By showing people images of hated ex-lovers or colleagues, and simultaneously scanning their brains, researchers identified areas of activity that constitute the “hate circuit.” It is distinct from brain activity related to emotions such as fear, threat and danger, but it shares a part of the brain associated with aggression, researchers said.

"Like love, hate is often seemingly irrational and can lead individuals to heroic and evil deeds," said Zeki. "How can two opposite sentiments lead to the same behavior?"

The study reports that the "hate circuit" includes structures in both the cortex and sub-cortex of the brain and has components that are important in generating aggressive behavior. It also involves a part of the frontal cortex that has been considered critical in predicting the actions of others, probably an important feature when one is confronted by a hated person.

The subcortical activity involves two distinct structures, the putamen and the insula, the researchers said. Both structures have also been found to be activated by romantic love, said Zeki.

"The putamen could be involved in the preparation of aggressive acts in a romantic context, as in situations when a rival presents a danger," he explained. "The insula may be involved in responses to distressing stimuli, and the viewing of both a loved and a hated face may constitute such a distressing signal."

A distinction from romantic love is that hate can be directed at entire groups of people, as is the case with racial, political, or gender hatred, said the researchers.

Click here for the Cosmos article.

Superstitions May Have Evolutionary Value

Seemingly silly superstitions may still be with us because they have evolutionary value. While they may be considered the linking of peculiar and irrational ~ if not just plain incorrect ~ causes and effects, they are far from worthless, according to recent research.

Harvard evolutionary biologist Kevin Foster worked with Hanna Kokko of the University of Helsinki to develop a complex computer model to compare scenarios where animals linked two events, such as the sound of rustling grass and the approach of a predator. But they also examined scenarios connecting less-dangerous situations, such as the sound of rustling grass and the wind.

The model showed that mistaken beliefs ~ superstitions, for example ~ can accompany similar beliefs that may save lives.

“It’s worth carrying many mistaken beliefs just to ensure you get the important ones right," said Foster. Even if an animal is often frightened by rustling grass caused by wind, if that causes it to avoid a predator in the grass on just one occasion, it may be enough to save its life. A relevant human example is that of a primitive tribe using a whole range of medicinal plants even if only very few work as an effective treatment, he said.

Though the model is purely theoretical at this stage, "it does make a number of testable predictions," Foster says. "The goal is to produce a logical framework to start to understand the evolution of superstition."

Click here for the Cosmos Online article.