In the cognitive science of religion, some, after conducting or examining
experiments, believe that all human beings are "intuitive theists" or "Born
Believers" and believe in "natural Religion." According to these thinkers, our
three basic cognitive mechanisms, i.e. Theory of Mind (TOM), Hyperactive
Agency Detection Device (HADD), and Teleological Bias (TB), have been
emerged and sustained as a result of evolution. Therefore, the cognitive
structure of all of us human beings at birth is such th…
Read moreIn the cognitive science of religion, some, after conducting or examining
experiments, believe that all human beings are "intuitive theists" or "Born
Believers" and believe in "natural Religion." According to these thinkers, our
three basic cognitive mechanisms, i.e. Theory of Mind (TOM), Hyperactive
Agency Detection Device (HADD), and Teleological Bias (TB), have been
emerged and sustained as a result of evolution. Therefore, the cognitive
structure of all of us human beings at birth is such that it provides the basis for
religiosity. One of the challenges to this theory at first glance is that if theism is
intuitive, then why do so many people believe in atheism? In this paper, we
intend to explain the theory of intuitive theism in the cognitive sciences of
religion and then defend it against the many forms of atheism. We answer that
there are many types of atheism: "cognitive atheism," "motivational atheism,"
"cultural atheism," and "analytical atheism." Theism and atheism can coincide in
all these categories except the first. In other words, with this analysis of the
cognitive sciences of religion, the same large number of atheists can be
considered intuitive theists, even if they do not pay attention or accept. Thus,
despite the increasing number of atheists, intuitive theism as a theory in the
cognitive sciences of religion can still be defended.
