In Plain Sight

~with apologies to “Vanden Plas”:http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=57080385~

“Mind Hacks”:http://www.mindhacks.com/ asks “Is Religion a Product of Mind and Evolution”:http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2006/03/is_religion_a_produc.html?

bq. ??Crucially, this research is not simply tackling the idea that biblical ideas such as creation are incorrect, but arguing that the belief in God or other supernatural forces, itself is a product of evolution.??

Among the included links is a pretty decent New Times article that details the two scientists, the experiment, and its aftermath.

I must say that the notion intrigues me, but I have problems with the article. Granted this was a newspaper and those kind of writers aren’t known for grasping the nuances of a particular field (hell, they’re still trying to get a handle on search engine optimization), but in reading it, I couldn’t but help notice:

* There’s no background on the group of children who saw the puppet show. What sort of upbringing do they have? Have their parents already discussed God? Are they active in Sunday School or other religious activities?

* The article sounds too God-centric. What about other religions, such as Zen? It’s possible that the Dharma could be a stand-in of sorts, but it’s not that comparable to God anyway. Then there’s the fact that most Americans are Christian. Nevertheless, it just feels too narrow for these findings to be truly significant.

* The article portrays scientist Jesse Bering as this guy who really wants creationists to get lathered up over the study. You can almost hear, “Hey, holy man! What do you think now, holy man? Huh, huh, huh, huh. What up? What up now?” It just sounds to me like he has an agenda.

Still, it’s intriguing. Give it a look over, won’t ya?