I would like to draw the attention of all those posters who enjoy a stoush with Sells to a short article in New Scientist: Dear God, please confirm what I already believe:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18216-dear-god-please-confirm-what-i-already-believe.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news
Experiments have offered strong evidence that
“People may use religious agents as a moral compass, forming impressions and making decisions based on what they presume God as the ultimate moral authority would believe or want”
It has never struck me as a particularly strange coincidence that an omnipotent, omniscient, incomparable God invariably agrees completely with the views of His followers, -even when they don't agree with each other.
How anyone can presume or pretend to understand an ineffable, infinitely superior being, when we all struggle to understand each other, is beyond me.

Grim
I'm glad to see you make this comment, and I agree. It's far too easy, isn't it, to call in an ultimate authority who just happens to represent moral superiority, and to be all-powerful and all-knowing at the same time, to overrule the different opinions of one's fellow human beings. It also justifies the use of violence of course, not just the Inquisition-style torture, but common-or-garden violence like the criminalisation of homosexuality or bigamy.

If we assume, for the sake of argument, that God does not exist, then it certainly appears to be a facile and circular process of reasoning.

I see the same process of reasoning in socialist and conservative statism. The deep structure of the belief of statists is "because problem, therefore solution is government". But there is never any critical questioning about how this human entity came to have such superior knowledge, capacity or goodness. All is in the realm of irrebutable presumption and invincible ignorance.

When we ask what it is about the modern successor of a mediaeval protection racket, that would endow it with the wisdom to manage any and every detail of the earth's climate, ecology and economy, all we get is endless appeal to absent authority such as the deists exhibit.

It wouldn't be so bad if statists were not the main force driving society's capital consumption, poverty, use of violence to establish of privilege, planned chaos and decivilisation. But, once we understand the science which disproves their superstition, it is really galling to have to put up with their oppression of minorities *and* fake moral superiority.

Man's superstitious proclivities have merely gone from reverencing rocks and streams, to a number of gods, to one big God, to a big God with a monopoly corporation to administer his earthly affairs, to the modern worship of a monopoly corporation as presumptively omnipotent, omniscient and representing the moral good - that just happens to be a monopoly of violence!

I pray you will try to refute this with the intellectual honesty you would like to see the deists muster up.

many have asked...how can i know theee lord...and the reply...is...your living it..know me by knowing thyself...by loving thy other...remembering that you do to the least...you do to me

other questions...quote<<<How anyone can presume or pretend to understand an ineffable,..infinitely superior being,..when we all struggle to understand each other,..is beyond me>>...

pretending is easy...and the best thing is god lets us believe whatever WE chose...ever heard of fake it till you make it?...

well its the same thing to know the ALL loving...ALL living...good/god./.do as ye see me do...[ie jesus words]..see me see my father who sent me...see you see the father who didst send thee

love thy father...by keeping the love of thy other
see this amasing reality..arround you...within you and without..its all god doing his sustaining of ;life...knowing the good...knowing the love...

seeing the light sustaining life...radiates/reflects of the fathers life..sustained of the fathers/ light...into living of love in ogic sustained of his light...

the dawn comes...when a black thread/can be differentiated from a white thread...in the darkness..they both seem the same

no more truer statement that the gullible man made climate change religion have ignored any evidence that contradicts their dogma. This is the evolution fantasy all over again. The only difference is that the passive evolution fantasy has nor been used as an excuse to tax people.

The fruit of not listening to our Creator is evident. Epidemic child abuse, teenagers infected with std's, divorce, disease, rebellion. These are all fruit of secular dogma held by those who want to indulge in their own little bit of immorality and want to believe the lie that they wont be held accountable. The fruit of secular dogma ignores the obvious and makes up little stories to hide their corruption.

Grim,

It is a noteworthy topic you introduce.

A few times, when we have continued away from Sells’ stated topics shifting into unintended areas, it has been posited that perhaps there is a neurological basis to belief, for example, the Neocortex trying to rationalise the survival instincts of the primitive Limbic System. One consequence could be the belief in an after-life, arising from the survival instinct. Here it is interesting to note that olfactory senses are heightened. Likewise, we see the burning of incense in religious ceremonies which would seem have reinforcing potentialities.

Also, the Amygdala would seem to play a role in fear, and freight and flee responses. In phobics, it has been found, when confronted with say a spider, all past spider experiences concertina all at once, typically exaggerating the experience. Here, priests can play to fear (e.g. hell) and use the transference to direct religionists to a resolution.

Another aspect of indwelling in a mass or church service, which has recently come to light, is the existence of mirror neurons, wherein if person “a” observes the experiences of person “b”, the same area of the brain is activated in both, herein, stimulating empathy, and, presumably, reinforcement and mass hysteria ( e.g., Lordes).

I guess this raises the question of whether society should allow some of its kind to believe in the divine nature Zeus, Jesus and Dianna, because religionism has existed as a sustaining societal meme or, do we treat the condition with neuro-psycho pharmacologic solutions. Herein, the challenge would be to inhibit the overzealous networking of brain neurons which inappropriately reinforce delusions.

People use religion as a crutch don't they.
It's all a big con, the best the world has ever seen.
Look at what religion is responsable for.
When ya dead you turn into fertilizer, like any thing else that dies.