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A CREATION STORY INVOLVING A GOD

THE IDEA OF GOD , CREATION STORIES , THE IDEA OF HEAVEN AND HELL NIENKE MOOR ARIANA NEED WOUT ULTEE RADBOUD UNIVERSITY NIJMEGEN NWO-PROGRAMME EVOLUTION AND BEHAVIOUR UTRECHT , DECEMBER 9, 2008.

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A CREATION STORY INVOLVING A GOD

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  1. THE IDEA OF GOD , CREATION STORIES , THE IDEA OF HEAVEN AND HELL NIENKE MOOR ARIANA NEED WOUT ULTEE RADBOUD UNIVERSITY NIJMEGEN NWO-PROGRAMME EVOLUTION AND BEHAVIOUR UTRECHT , DECEMBER 9, 2008

  2. A CREATION STORY INVOLVING A GOD JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY : GOD MOLDED CLAY IN HIS OWN IMAGE , BLEW LIFE IN IT , AND MAN WAS CREATED MICHELANGELO , 1508-1512 VATICAN , SISTINE CHAPEL CEILING , DETAIL

  3. THIS IS AN EFFORT IN THE SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION AND IN GENERAL SOCIOLOGY IN 1970 LENSKI DEVELOPED A GENERAL THEORY CALLED ECOLOGICAL EVOLUTIONISM EARLY SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION : THERE ARE NO SOCIETIES WITHOUT RELIGION WHY IS RELIGION A SOCIETAL UNIVERSAL ? RELIGION CONTRIBUTES TO SOCIETAL SURVIVAL

  4. ECOLOGICAL EVOLUTIONISM PROPOSES A PROBLEM SHIFT IN THE SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION THE IDEA OF A GOD DIFFERS FROM SOCIETY TO SOCIETY WHY RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY ? ECOLOGICAL EVOLUTIONISM EXPLAINS RELIGIOUS IDEAS AS A BY-PRODUCT OF THE HUMAN TENDENCY TO REASON BY ANALOGY

  5. RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY ACCORDING TO LENSKI , HUMAN SOCIETIES , FIRST EDITION 1970 , PAGE 134 FOUR TYPES OF REPRESENTATIONS OF GOD

  6. THIS TABLE WAS OBTAINED FROM MURDOCK’S 1962 ETHNOGRAPHIC ATLAS A SYSTEMATIC CODING OF MONOGRAPHS THAT REPORT FIELD WORK UNDERTAKEN IN PRE-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES BEFORE 1950 IN THE STANDARD SAMPLE OF 186 SOCIETIES , SOCIETIES DO NOT BORDER SO THAT DIFFUSION THEORIES ARE NOT APPLICABLE

  7. ECOLOGICAL EVOLUTIONISM : HUMAN POPULATIONS POSSESS TECHNOLOGIES , IN PARTICULAR KNOWLEDGE ABOUT SUBSISTENCE MAKING THE BEST OF A SOCIETY’S ENVIRONMENT AND THEY POSSESS IDEOLOGIES , WHICH LEGITIMIZE THE USE OF THIS KNOWLEDGE AND INSPIRE NORMS AND VALUES

  8. AGRICULTURE AS SUBSISTENCE : MAN PLOUGHING A FIELD, SOUTHERN CHINA, 1995

  9. HORTICULTURE AS SUBSISTENCE : ONLOOKING WOMAN AND MAN WORKING A GARDEN WITH A DIGGING STICK, WEMALE, MALUKU (MOLUCCAS ISLANDS), 1948

  10. HUNTING AS SUBSISTENCE : HUNTERS AT THE KEI-ISLAND OF MALUKU 1886

  11. TYPES OF SUBSISTENCE : HUNTING AND GATHERING SIMPLE HORTICULTURE ADVANCED HORTICULTURE AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY TYPES ARE STAGES IN SOCIETAL EVOLUTION AND THERE ARE EVOLUTIONARY BYPATHS : FISHING SEAFARING HERDING

  12. ECOLOGICAL EVOLUTIONISM THE HIGHER A SOCIETY’S LEVEL OF SUBSISTENCE TECHNOLOGY , THE MORE ACTIVE ITS GOD(S) BUT WHY WOULD A HIGHER SUBSISTENCE TECHNOLOGY MAKE FOR THE IDEA OF MORE ACTIVE GOD(S) ? THE MORE THE MEMBERS OF A HUMAN SOCIETY INTERVENE FOR THEIR SUBSISTENCE IN THEIR ENVIRONMENT , THE MORE THEIR GOD(S) INTERVENE IN SOCIETY

  13. THE UNDERLYING PROPOSITION ? HUME 1757 ANTHROPOMORPHISM : PEOPLE MAKE GODS IN THEIR OWN IMAGE DURKHEIM 1912 SOCIOCENTRISM : PEOPLE ARE ONLY CAPABLE OF REPRESENTING THE WORLD AFTER THE IMAGE OF THE SMALL SOCIAL WORLD IN WHICH THEY LIVE

  14. CONTEMPORARY EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY : PINKER’S 1991 HUMAN UNIVERSALS INCLUDE ANTHROPOMORPHIZATION AND METAPHORS ANALOGICAL REASONING AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO WILSON’S 2002 BLIND VARIATION DAWKINS’ 2006 THESIS THAT THE GOD DELUSION IS A BY-PRODUCT OF THE INTENTIONAL STANCE

  15. TOPITSCH’S 1954 PROPOSITION PEOPLE COMPREHEND THE UNKNOWN BY ANALOGY WITH THE KNOWN KNOWN ARE VITAL PROCESSES - BIOMORPHISM KNOWN ARE TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENTS - TECHNOMORPHISM KNOWN ARE SOCIETAL ARRANGEMENTS – SOCIOMORPHISM THE UNKNOWN : ORIGINS AND DESTINATIONS

  16. IF THE WORLD AROSE BECAUSE HEAVEN MARRIED EARTH, THIS IS AN INSTANCE OF BIOMORPHISM IF GOD CREATED THE FIRST HUMAN BEING BY MOLDING CLAY INTO A SHAPE RESEMBLING GOD THIS IS AN INSTANCE OF TECHNOMORPHISM IF GOD RULES THE WORLD BY PUNISHING EVIL WITH HELL AND REWARDING THE GOOD WITH HEAVEN THIS IS AN INSTANCE OF SOCIOMORPHISM

  17. LENSKI’S TYPES OF SUBSISTENCE LINKED TO THE TYPES OF ANALOGIES OF TOPITSCH : HUNTING AND BIOMORPHISM NO SUPREME CREATOR FISHING BIOMORPHISM NO SUPREME CREATOR SIMPLE BIOMORPHISM NON-ACTIVE SUPREME CREATOR HORTICULTURE ADVANCED TECHNOMORPHISM NON-MORAL SUPREME CREATOR HORTICULTURE AGRICULTURE SOCIOMORPHISM MORAL SUPREME CREATOR HERDING SOCIOMORPHISM MORAL SUPREME CREATOR

  18. OF COURSE , THERE ARE NO DIRECT MEASURES FOR BIOMORPHISM , TECHNOMORPHISM AND SOCIOMORPHISM IN MURDOCK’S ETHNOGRAPHIC ATLAS BUT THE ETHNOGRAPHIC ATLAS CODES THE PRESENCE OF FULL-TIME CRAFT SPECIALIZATION - THE PRIME MODEL FOR TECHNICAL ANALOGIES AND THE PRESENCE OF ONE RULER - THE PRIME MODEL FOR SOCIETAL ANALOGIES

  19. ADVANCED HORTICULTURE MAKES FOR CRAFT SPECIALIZATION , AND AGRICULTURE ALSO FOR RULERS AFTER ADDING TO LOGISTIC REGRESSION MODELS MEASURES FOR CRAFT SPECIALIZATION AND FOR THE PRESENCE OF RULERS THE EFFECT OF AGRICULTURE ON THE PRESENCE OF A MORAL SUPREME CREATOR BECOMES INDIRECT

  20. THE EFFECT OF CRAFT SPECIALIZATION IS MORE PRONOUNCED THAN THAT OF RULERS THE PRESENCE OF RULERS INCREASES THE CHANCES OF A SUPREME CREATOR RATHER THAN NO SUPREME CREATOR

  21. GOD IN HEAVEN SITTING ON A THRONE WITH A GLOBE IN HIS HAND : GOD AS RULER OF THE WORLD CATHEDRAL OF GERONA IN SPAIN , MANUSCRIPT FROM 975

  22. IF PEOPLE COMPREHEND THE UNKNOWN BY ANALOGY WITH THE KNOWN , QUESTIONS ABOUT GOD ARE OFF THE MARK A SECOND PROBLEM SHIFT IN ECOLOGICAL EVOLUTIONISM : FROM QUESTIONS ABOUT GODS WHO NOW AND THEN CREATE TO QUESTIONS ABOUT CREATIONS SOMETIMES INVOLVING A GOD

  23. THE PREDECESSOR ON MURDOCK’S ETHNOGRAPHIC ATLAS IS THE HUMAN RELATIONS AREA FILE , COMPRISING ORIGINAL PUBLICATIONS FOR 116 OF THE 186 PRE-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES IN THE STANDARD SAMPLE WE FOUND CREATION STORIES

  24. TO CODE CREATION STORIES , WE EXPANDED OUR LIST OF ANALOGIES SANDAY 1981 MADE US DISTINGUISH MALE INFLUENCE MODELS FROM FEMALE INFLUENCE MODELS TOPITSCH 1988 MADE US DISTINGUISH KINSHIP MODELS FROM RULER MODELS ( BOTH FORMS OF SOCIOMORPHISM ) AND COBB 2006 MADE US BRING IN SPONTANEOUS CREATION MODELS

  25. POSTULATED LINKS

  26. TESTING THE POSTULATED LINKS Presence of a female creator in creation stories of 116 pre-industrial societies according to the subsistence technology of these societies, percentages (absolute frequencies in brackets)

  27. ONCE MORE TESTING THE LINKS Presence of a creator who is a parent or ruler in creation stories of 116 pre-industrial societies according to the subsistence technology of these societies, percentages (absolute frequencies in brackets)

  28. ONCE MORE TESTING THE LINKS Type of creative act in creation stories of pre-industrial societies according to the subsistence technology of these societies, percentages; 116 pre-industrial societies (absolute frequencies in brackets)

  29. REFUTATION OF HYPOTHESES , BUT : TECHNICAL ANALOGIES APPEAR BEFORE FULL-TIME CRAFT SPECIALIZATION EMERGES COMMAND ANALOGIES APPEAR THERE BEFORE RULERS BECOME STRONG

  30. FROM QUESTIONS ABOUT IDEAS OF GOD IN PRE-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES TO QUESTIONS ABOUT INDUSTRIALIZATION AND SECULARIZATION

  31. THE BIG ISSUE IN THE CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION : IS THERE A EUROPEAN , AND PERHAPS WORLD-WIDE , TREND TOWARDS SECULARITY , OR DOES INDUSTRIALIZATION AND DEMOCRATIZATION MAKE FOR SECULARIZATION ?

  32. EXPANDED ECOLOGICAL EVOLUTIONISM LISTS THREE CAUSES FOR THE DECLINE OF OLD ANALOGIES THE SHIFT FROM AGRICULTURE TO INDUSTRY ERODES SEXUAL REPRODUCTION ANALOGIES AND CRAFT ANALOGIES DEMOCRATIZATION ERODES RULER ANALOGIES THE INCREASINGTENSION BETWEEN THE IDEA THAT HUMAN BEINGS INTERVENE MORE AND MORE IN THEIR ENVIRONMENT AND THE IDEA THE GOD INTERVENES MORE AND MORE IN SOCIETY

  33. ISSUE USED TO BE STUDIED WITH DATA ON CHURCH MEMBERSHIP AND DATA ON CHURCH ATTENDANCE NOWADAYS COMPARABLE DATA ARE AVAILABLE FOR MANY COUNTRIES ON VARIOUS IDEAS OF GOD THE EUROPEAN VALUES SURVEYS AND THE WORLD VALUES SURVEYS THESE SURVEYS DO NOT EXPLICITLY MEASURE THE USE OF ANALOGIES

  34. Representations of God, by country EVS 1999-2000 (in %)

  35. industrialization and ideas about god industrialization personal god % % personal god abstract god abstract /personal god abstract god agnosticism agnosticism agnosticism atheism atheism atheism

  36. AN AGRICULTURAL JOB AND A HIGHER PERCENT IN AGRICULTURE MAKE A PERSONAL GOD MORE LIKELY MORE EDUCATION AND A HIGHER AVERAGE EDUCATION MAKES A PERSONAL GOD LESS LIKELY VOTING FOR THE LEFT AND MORE LEFT-WING VOTING MAKE A PERSONAL GOD LESS LIKELY BELIEF IN A STRONG LEADER MAKES A PERSONAL GOD MORE LIKELY

  37. ECOLOGICAL EVOLUTIONISM INVITES A THIRD PROBLEM SHIFT IN THE CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION : FROM QUESTIONS ABOUT GOD TO QUESTIONS ABOUT HEAVEN AND HELL JEROEN BOSCH, 1510 THE HELL PANEL FROM A TRIPTYCH MADRID, PRADO

  38. Religious acts and beliefs by type of society (%) Norris and Inglehart 2004, page 57; data for 74 states from World Values Survey 1981-2001

  39. BELIEF IN GOD IS LEAST RELATED TO TECHNOLOGY BELIEF IN HEAVEN MORE SO AND BELIEF IN HELL EVEN MORE SO NORRIS AND INGLEHART HOLD THAT MORE MATERIAL SECURITY MAKES FOR LESS BELIEF BUT WHY DOES BELIEF IN HELL DECREASE MOST ?

  40. AND IF RELIGION OFFERS AFTER-LIFE REWARDS FOR MATERIAL INSECURITY NOW , WHY DID PEOPLE EVER THINK THAT GOD PUNISHES PEOPLE BY SENDING THEM TO HELL ? THE TOPITSCH-HYPOTHESIS : IF THE UNKNOWN RESEMBLES THE KNOWN AND IF IN DEMOCRATIC AND INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES MATERIAL INSECURITY DECLINES BELIEF IN HELL SHOULD GO DOWN MORE THAN BELIEF IN HEAVEN

  41. Belief in heaven and hell by type of society (%) THERE ARE HARDLY ANY PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE IN HELL BUT NOT IN HEAVEN WORLD VALUES SURVEY 1981-2001, 74 societies, own calculations

  42. AN AGRICULTURAL JOB AND A HIGHER PERCENT IN AGRICULTURE MAKE BELIEF IN HEAVEN PLUS HELL MORE LIKELY MORE EDUCATION AND A HIGHER AVERAGE EDUCATION MAKES DISBELIEF IN BOTH HEAVEN AND HELL MORE LIKELY VOTING FOR A LEFT WING PARTY AND MORE LEFT-WING VOTES MAKE DISBELIEF IN BOTH HEAVEN AND HELL MORE LIKELY

  43. IF YOU WISH TO SEE THIS POWERPOINT AT A LEISURELY PACE , GO TO http://www.socsci.kun.nl/maw/sociologie/ultee AND THEN CLICK FOREIGN PRESENTATIONS OR TYPE IN GOOGLE WOUT ULTEE MY WEBSITE IS THE FIRST HIT

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