Would people naturally believe in God without being told about God?

Define god

2 hours ago, Vexen said:

Would people naturally believe in God without being told about God?

I suspect that if you brought up a group of people without any knowledge of gods, then some of them would invent their own. Some people in the group would believe in those gods and others wouldn't.

Gods are about gaps in understanding and knowledge. Some people aren't comfortable not knowing, but instead of learning and exploring, they make things up that make sense to them. The ambiguity is preferable to an answer they don't understand. 

People in general don't tend towards supernatural beliefs, but I think ignorant ones do. It's just easier to believe in god(s) when you don't have the proper knowledge. 

On ‎3‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 4:32 PM, Vexen said:

Would people naturally believe in God without being told about God?

No

I think the idea of 'god' evolved. People ascribed supernatural stuff to natural phenomena (sun, clouds, water...) this became  polytheism (Zeus, Hera, Odin...) and now it's rather monotheism (Jahweh Allah).

13 minutes ago, Itoero said:

No

I think the idea of 'god' evolved. People ascribed supernatural stuff to natural phenomena (sun, clouds, water...) this became  polytheism (Zeus, Hera, Odin...) and now it's rather monotheism (Jahweh Allah).

Doesn't that mean that the idea of god could evolve again, if a group of people started out with no concept of god? So I think your "no" should be a "yes"

Just now, Strange said:

Doesn't that mean that the idea of god could evolve again, if a group of people started out with no concept of god? So I think your "no" should be a "yes"

Concur.

Although the majority of today's theists are more bound to religion by tradition than lack of knowledge.

The idea of God only seems to have developed once in human history, and that took a few thousand years of civilisation (candidate for the worst idea humans have ever come up with?). Doesn't seem like there's anything inevitable about it.

16 minutes ago, Prometheus said:

The idea of God only seems to have developed once in human history, and that took a few thousand years of civilisation (candidate for the worst idea humans have ever come up with?). Doesn't seem like there's anything inevitable about it.

Only once? Why have there been so many pantheons and belief systems?

3 minutes ago, swansont said:

Only once? Why have there been so many pantheons and belief systems?

The OP said God  - capitalised and singular. I'm unaware of a context where this doesn't refer to the Abrahamic god.

12 minutes ago, Prometheus said:

The OP said God  - capitalised and singular. I'm unaware of a context where this doesn't refer to the Abrahamic god.

Then the answer is trivially “no” because they would not get all the details right. They’d be believing in some similar deity, at best. Since it’s doubtful someone would ask such a trivial question, I think it’s reasonable to assume a wider reference.

On 3/3/2019 at 3:32 PM, Vexen said:

Would people naturally believe in God without being told about God?

Someone must have, or nobody would.

They don't need to get all the details right - just the all-knowing, all-powerful personal creator deity part . In similar conversations with Vexen elsewhere they have alluded that this is what they meant. Unfortunately Vexen didn't accept Inow's invitation to define it here.

As far as i'm aware the idea of an all-knowing, all-powerful personal creator deity occured once: the Abrahamic god.

1 hour ago, Prometheus said:

They don't need to get all the details right - just the all-knowing, all-powerful personal creator deity part .

No, you said the Abrahamic god. Not just an omnipotent ceator deity. 

Quote

In similar conversations with Vexen elsewhere they have alluded that this is what they meant. Unfortunately Vexen didn't accept Inow's invitation to define it here.

As far as i'm aware the idea of an all-knowing, all-powerful personal creator deity occured once: the Abrahamic god.

Atenism? Sikhism?

 

Plus the fact that others in this thread have interpreted the OP contrary to your take.

1 minute ago, swansont said:

No, you said the Abrahamic god. Not just an omnipotent ceator deity. 

And then i clarified. 

 

2 minutes ago, swansont said:

Atenism? Sikhism?

Don't know much about either of these. Sikhism popped up around 1500; would have to do some more research to know if it's truly independent idea (the wikipedia page uses the language 'Alpha and Omega' would suggests a link to Christianity). The pertinent question with regards to the OP is whether Sikhism would have appeared had the idea of a monotheistic god not already exist. Atenism is described as monolatry rather than monotheistic. Perhaps it was one of the precursors to monotheism developing in Judaism.

On 3/3/2019 at 6:04 PM, Phi for All said:

Gods are about gaps in understanding and knowledge. Some people aren't comfortable not knowing, but instead of learning and exploring, they make things up that make sense to them.

 

and lucky pants.

it's not just about bias, the placebo effect has its place too...