The Innate Tendency Towards Religion in Human Nature
In the previous episode, we explained the set of innate components that pose a dilemma for the atheist, which he tries to avoid by denying the existence of these components or by explaining them in a materialistic way. Today, we will see this atheistic behavior with the first component, which is the tendency towards religion.
By religion, we mean: the human's realization that he has a Creator and Sustainer for this universe, the desire to worship this Creator and draw near to Him, the feeling of need for Him, and also resorting to Him in times of hardship. The Islamic perspective mentions the existence of this tendency as an undisputed fact, as in many verses such as the saying of Allah the Almighty: {And when adversity touches man, he calls upon Us}. Mentioning "man" in general because it is an innate trait planted in every human.
And our claim of the innate nature of religion means that it is a fundamental component deeply rooted in the human psyche, an integral part of its composition, with its roots present since the birth of man, regardless of external influences.
Response to the Claim of "Acquired Religion"
Initially, the atheist denied the innate nature of religion and said: rather, people's belief in the existence of a Creator is an acquired thing influenced by upbringing and the transmission of this call through generations. If left to himself, there is nothing that would lead man to believe in the existence of a Creator. And the atheist will say to you: there are many beliefs that their adherents believe in, even though they are mere superstitions, such as "Santa Claus" who comes on a sleigh from the sky on Christmas Eve, or "the dragon that breathes fire."
We say: even if we overlook the fact that superstitious beliefs have no evidence, while the existence of the Creator is evidenced by everything, there is a fundamental difference from the emotional perspective between superstitious beliefs that children are fed and discover when they mature the falsity of these beliefs and that they possess no basis or proof, and they laugh at themselves for having believed in them once, and the tendency towards religion.
This deep feeling that people find within themselves, even the one who denies it struggles with himself to deny it, and his question keeps assaulting him and imposing itself on him time after time, until the atheist is forced to seek materialistic explanations for his existence, claiming that religion is most like something that has been "instilled" in man; that is, it is an innate component mixed with his flesh and blood like arteries and nerves.
Religion as a Historical and Realistic Fact
This is a fact that runs deep in history, to the extent that the Greek historian Plutarch said: "If you travel around the world, you may find cities without walls, without morals, without kings, without wealth, without theaters, but there has never been - and cannot be on any day - a city without a temple where man practices worship."
The matter does not require studies or historical research, but man finds it within himself; if he falls into hardships, a meaning stirs within him that he cannot push away, that there is a supreme power capable of saving him, and he finds in his condition a request and resort to his Lord to save him from this predicament. Therefore, it is said in Western proverbs: "There are no atheists in foxholes," referring to war trenches when they are exposed to dangers that threaten their lives.
The Psychological Contradiction of the Atheist
The atheist may act stubbornly, and you may find a group of soldiers writing a sign that says "Atheists in foxholes" boastfully, but their sick repetition of such phrases with or without occasion, and their insults to God (even though they do not believe in His existence at all), indicate conflicting psyches that struggle with a deep voice within them and try to suppress it.
And due to the void that ravages many atheists after they denied this innate component, they began to establish a form of atheistic gatherings in a ritualistic manner very similar to religious gatherings, such as what is known as "atheist churches" that began to spread in America, Canada, and Britain, in a conscious or unconscious expression of an innate secret that seeks a form of vent.
Attempts at Materialistic Explanation (The God Gene)
Many atheists have acknowledged that the tendency towards religion and the belief in the existence of God goes beyond external and environmental influence and that it is a central component in man. But did they believe? No, but they sought any other relation other than belief in God, saying: the tendency to believe in the Creator is not necessarily in accordance with the truth, but it may be just an illusion produced by randomness, or a trait selected by nature to help man survive.
Indeed, special fields of knowledge began to form to study this phenomenon, as neuroscience branched into what is now known as "Neurotheology" (the neuroscience of religion), a research field that seeks to uncover the nature of the relationship between the nervous system and the phenomenon of religion. The matter even reached the search for a gene responsible for this tendency, where the American geneticist Dean Hamer published a book titled "The God Gene" (The God Gene: How Faith Is Hardwired into Our Genes?), and Matthew Alper's book "The God Part of the Brain."
The Integration of the Innate Package
We say to the atheists: assuming that you have found a materialistic explanation for the tendency towards religion, what about the other innate components? What is this coordinated set that makes people:
- Believers in the existence of a Creator and lovers of His worship.
- Possessors of intellectual necessities through which they understand His will.
- Have a moral tendency in harmony with His commands.
- Have a sense of purpose that drives them to seek the purpose of their existence.
- Possess free will through which they choose obedience or disobedience.
The existence of this integrated package is nothing but another evidence of the greatness of this Creator who endowed it in humans and made it in harmony with His legal commands.
In the upcoming episodes, we will see the results of the atheist's claim that what man finds within himself as a necessity does not necessarily have to be true, and our next stop is with "intellectual necessities."