Analytic thinking facilitates Atheism

As I previously expressed my interest in one blog post that I will be keeping an eye on the topic of human religiosity in spiritual & social context, couple of recent studies thus rightfully attracted my attention. The first one, as it appeared to me, understandably was all over atheist blogosphere. The article cites a study which says "Analytic Thinking Can Promote Atheism". Deliberate analytical thinking could cause people to believe less in God. While religion entertains emotion and intuition, it's the deliberately acquired cognitive thinking skill that enhances logical and rational disposition. I believe atheism is a direct result of this disposition.

Some other studies which were not so noticable in my atheist news feed were....

* Older People Hold Stronger Belief in God...Which is quite understandable. We are emotional being and don't usually like the idea that we will cease to exist in near future. People would want to think of an eternal afterlife as they approach old age. It's a very strong emotional feeling and an absolute trump card meme for religions to propagate. For atheists who don't seriously entertain the notion of an afterlife, Transhumanistic ideas appeared in response to this inevitable end of our mortal lives.

* People exposed to death more likely to believe in God, study finds. Which is also pretty obvious. Fear, death and violence play major roles in believing in God and religion. One interesting tidbit I found from the article was that the Atheist countries operate at higher levels of mutual trust than religious societies. My two cents... in the absence of a supposed higher moral authority (which is nothing but wishful thinking), atheists generally are inclined to put their trust on other atheists' judgement. I wish to write more about this in a future post.

For an elaborate explanation I recommend checking out Luke Muehlhauser's article: The Cognitive Science of Rationality. Plus, an article which all atheists would just love to read again & again & again!!