Prof. Tiger said he and Dr. McGuire were also compelled to look more deeply at religion because of the spate of books by such high-profile atheists as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, which were gaining huge readership for their anti-religious notions.
The main arguments of these writers is that no religion is backed up by scientific fact and therefore religious believers are deluded, if not outright morons.
“That was disrespectful and also not scientific,” Prof. Tiger said. “You can’t have a viable society in which 80% of adults are morons.”
In God’s Brain, the authors add: “It is [also] all well and good to say that ... beliefs should be buttressed by hard evidence. But if the brain doesn’t work that way naturally, the argument is more wishful thinking than real.... Astonishingly, the human record shows that a bewildering portion of what humans imagine is given the same weight, value and authority as what they tangibly experience.
“The brain is simply more comfortable believing than doubting, just as the body is more comfortable lying in a hammock than hanging from a chin-up bar.”
The main arguments of these writers is that no religion is backed up by scientific fact and therefore religious believers are deluded, if not outright morons.
“That was disrespectful and also not scientific,” Prof. Tiger said. “You can’t have a viable society in which 80% of adults are morons.”
In God’s Brain, the authors add: “It is [also] all well and good to say that ... beliefs should be buttressed by hard evidence. But if the brain doesn’t work that way naturally, the argument is more wishful thinking than real.... Astonishingly, the human record shows that a bewildering portion of what humans imagine is given the same weight, value and authority as what they tangibly experience.
“The brain is simply more comfortable believing than doubting, just as the body is more comfortable lying in a hammock than hanging from a chin-up bar.”