@Pineal --
Wait. Now you are comparing it to imaginary friends? It is not clear that having imaginary friends is based on fear or control issues. Further those who have them tend to be higher in intelligence and language skills.
Nice straw man argument. You'll notice that my post is
not comparing belief in an afterlife to childhood imaginary friends, as evidenced by my use of the phrase "much like" in my sentence. You'll note that I did not say "belief in an afterlife is like imaginary friends". No, what I said was, and I'm quoting exactly here:
"Whether you agree with my analysis or not you can't deny that the two are quite similar, much like belief that god is talking to you is quite similar to the "imaginary friends" of many childhoods."
In no way does that sentence compare belief in an afterlife to imaginary friends.
Come on man, I know that you can do better than this. I typically like your posts and find them at least slightly insightful. This is a low that I've never seen you sink to before.
the main reason theists believe in the afterlife is social/familial/cultural. They were raised in the religion. Their parents are in this religion. Many, or even most of their friends and acquaintances are in that religion.
That would work if we didn't find similar beliefs among people not raised in them as well as in all social and economic groups. There is one common factor between the two groups though and it's a very likely cause of the behavior, the fear of death. You don't need two causes to explain this one phenomenon, one underlying cause is enough and the "fear of death" explanation is powerful enough to account for all such afterlife beliefs.
Parsimony my dear friend, parsimony.
The fear of death may present a kind of bolstering of this belief in the after life, but it is not the primary cause.
But the socio/economic/familial factors aren't enough to account for all such cases, therefore you have implicitly posited two completely different causes for the same phenomenon. Such poor form is unexpected from you.
I think there is a reason atheists have the mistaken belief that the primary reason theists believe has to do with fear of death - it reflects back well on them.
Most people are afraid of death.
Theists believe in an afterlife because they cannot face their fear.
Atheists also fear death, but....
I am sure you can finish this self-compliment.
Hell, I'm busy dealing with my fear of death just like any theist, the only difference is that being an atheist means that I have less of it to deal with than when I was a christian. Not having the threat of eternal damnation and torture hanging over me likely has
something to do with that(well, that and having been declared medically dead on three occasions and damn close to it a number of other times).
Of all of the possibilities for what happens after death I have to say that I like the atheist one the best, I didn't exist before I was born either and it didn't inconvenience me then. Of course, it does help that this is the only possibility that we have any evidence for.
