If you care to look back at my posts on these threads then you will find that I have not attacked any other philosophies but have tried (poorly probably) to identify elements of my own. I have not challenged the right of atheists or agnostics to hold their views or sought to accuse either them or their philosophies as the cause of evil. Therein lies the difference.
Agreed with a lot of what you said, UIR. However, I think you might be conflating Dean Hamer's VMAT2 discovery ('God gene') with Koren/Persinger's 'God helmet'. Persinger's God helmet delivers weak magnetic signals to the temporal lobes to stimulate a 'religious experience' like someone being in the room with you. Richard Dawkins had a go on it in his Horizon show and said it made him feel 'dizzy'. It is important to note that Persinger's research has not been replicated independently (despite people trying it) and therefore is not considered real science yet. Dean Hamer's lab discovered VMAT2, a gene which encodes for the transport of neurotransmitters during brain activity. And, incidentally, it's no more the 'God gene' that the Higg's Boson is the 'God particle'. The Higg's boson is relatively much, much more important to its field ans so is more deserving of the moniker (despite it being misleading). In fact, VMAT2 is thought to code for a very tiny proportion of the variation of self-transcendence scores (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-transcendence). It also has to be stated that Hamer has not published his results in a peer reviewed journal (that I'm aware of!), and so, again, this research is not really considered mainstream science. Dean himself has stated that (I'm paraphrasing) his work 'is about the existence of god genes not the existence of god'. He's also, slightly more successfully, found genes linked to homosexuality and has had papers published on that work.
Could be CCC. My only knowledge of the 'god gene' or 'god helmet' was a documentary I watched a while back. weak electro magnetic signals gave the subject an image of god or the divine. Something like that. Some angry believers dismissed it. And Dave, I wasnt targeting you but just believers on the whole. I hadnt read much since my post a few pages ago about not going off topic then everyone went off topic anyway Actually one of the better discussions on the matter though, on other sites its impossible to discuss and often the believers are over protected so theres no room for discussion or both sides trade insults.
Yeah, as I've said, I've got no problem with the theory (hypothesis!) of something affecting the brain and therefore affecting perception, but the weakness and short duration of the magnetic stimulus and the fact it hasn't been independently replicated has me very dubious. On a side note, I've often thought that religious leaders who have visions were hallucinating. For example, Mohammad was in a cave (Hira) when got instruction from Allah. Most of these religious leaders were either fasting or somewhere (e.g. cave) which leads to sensory deprivation, or both. Under these conditions, hallucination is likely and, if for an extended duration, almost inevitable. Of course, playing Devil's Advocate, perhaps these are the conditions required to converse with 'supernatural' beings? Not my belief, but I'm sure people could argue that as it could not be disproved.
I'm beginning to wish that this thread could somehow morph into a discussion on Corporate and Marketing Strategy or Corporate Culture or even Organisational or Consumer Behaviour so that I could theorise all day.
You're on your own on that one, Dave. I know absolutely nothing about business. You could write my business acumen on a small stamp with big letters (letters on a stamp for a change! <smirk>) and have plenty of room to spare!
