is it natural to believe in god?

We all like to think we make good choices for good reasons. Those who believe in God like to think they are right in their belief, whereas atheists think believers are mistaken, sometimes even 'delusional'. Some atheists would like to see all God-belief eliminated because they believe it does so much harm.

Yet new scientific studies suggest it is 'natural' to believe in God.

science and religion (again!)

A reader drew my attention to this brief debate on this topic, in which well-known atheist Sam Harris made the statement:

"We have Christians believing in the holy ghost, the resurrection of Jesus and his possible return – these are claims about biology and physics which, from a scientific point of view in the 21st century, should be unsustainable."

What is the basis of this statement?

do miracles really happen?

When we get desperate, most of us would like to think that miracles are possible, that the incurable disease can be cured and those told they are beyond medical help can be healed.

But is there any hope that miracles are really possible?

galileo and historical myths

Last post I looked at the conflict thesis - the idea that christianity (or even religion generally) opposed science down through history. Let's look at a few more myths....

christianity has always opposed science, hasn't it?

It's one of the hottest topics on the internet, and so many people know the answer. Christians oppose evolution, and they've always opposed science, even persecuting and executing scientists who opposed the church in the Middle Ages.

But it seems the conventional wisdom is badly distorted, sometimes even outright wrong.

the origin of life

The theory of evolution is considered by most scientists to be pretty well proven. It tells us how life developed via natural selection to the complexities we see today. But evolution doesn't explain how life began, and so far science cannot do so either. What should we make of this?

prayer and healing

Photo: MorgueFile

People all over the world pray that God will help them in their time of need, including when they are sick. But is there any evidence that their praying achieves anything? It may surprise you to know that dozens of medical research studies have been undertaken in recent years to answer this question.

the middle ages - more interesting than you think

For many people, history is boring - just a succession of dates and wars. I think it is probably often taught very badly at school.

But here is a history book which is anything but boring.

extreme weather

Australia has been experiencing some extreme weather lately.

In December, the first month of summer, we had a heat wave in Perth, with some bushfires, light snow in Tasmania, a cool Christmas in Sydney and torrential rain and flooding in Queensland.

in appreciation of martin rees

Martin Rees is a very interesting character. An eminent British cosmologist (a scientist who studies the universe and its expansion from the initial big bang), he is the Astronomer Royal (a largely honorary title) and president of the Royal Society, Britain's most elite scientific organisation. Along with Stephen Hawking, he was instrumental in proving that the universe had not existed forever, but began with the big bang, about 14 billion years ago.