Study finds that even atheists have a positive view of faith itself
Will Gervais, a psychology lecturer at Brunel University London, argues that many avowed atheists believe that atheists are more rational and place more importance on evidence and analytical thinking than those who believe in religion or superstition. Gervais conducted a study of eight relatively less religious countries, including Japan, and pointed out that this belief is questionable, as there is evidence that even atheists intuitively view faith as a positive thing.
Belief in belief: Even atheists in secular countries show intuitive preferences favoring religious belief | PNAS
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Gervais and his colleagues conducted a test that applied the Knobe effect to religion, which suggests that whether a particular action results in a positive or negative side effect makes a person feel that the action was intentional or not.
The story of the Nobu effect, as shaped by Joshua Nobu's research , goes like this: 'The chairman of a company introduces a policy that brings huge benefits but also produces side effect X. The chairman doesn't care about side effect X at all, and implements the policy just for the sake of profit. The policy does indeed bring huge benefits, but as expected, it also produces side effect X. In this case, can we say that the chairman intentionally caused side effect X?'
In this study, when side effect X was negative (harming the environment), over 80% of people asked about the above story said they had caused it intentionally. However, when side effect X was positive (improving the environment), only around 20% said they had caused it intentionally.
This suggests that people intuitively feel that harmful side effects are intentionally induced, despite the lack of evidence or support, and that beneficial side effects are not.
Other research has shown that the Noob effect varies depending on the language and words used in the example sentences, but Gervais's study did not reference this.
Gervais linked the Nobu effect to religion, creating a story in which a newspaper journalist tries to publish an article about religion. The side effect is to either increase the number of atheists in the world or to increase the number of believers. After the newspaper is sold, the world experiences a change in religious values, but was this actually intentional?
The story was read to a total of 3,804 subjects from Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, and Vietnam - all countries that Gervais considers relatively secular. The number of people who said they 'intentionally increased the number of atheists' was about 40% higher than those who said they 'intentionally increased the number of believers.'
The green part of the figure shows the percentage of people who answered that they had increased the number of believers, and the purple part shows the percentage of people who answered that they had increased the number of atheists. The ranking of the options remained the same in all countries, and this tendency was also seen among subjects who publicly declared themselves atheists.
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'In Nob's original study, participants viewed environmental pollution as a negative thing that was intentionally caused. In this study, participants viewed the increase in atheists as a negative thing,' Gervais said. 'This is evidence that even if people's religious beliefs are weak, they still have faith in religion itself.'
When asked why faith in religion itself persists in less religious countries, Gervais said, 'As religion has shaped our lives, people have come to see religion and morality as almost synonymous, and over time faith and morality have become deeply rooted in our culture.'
'Religion has had a huge influence on our society for thousands of years, so the decline in overt religious expression doesn't necessarily mean that religious behavior will disappear altogether,' Gervais said. 'Religious expression and belief in faith remain very much part of our culture, and I disagree with some people saying we're in an atheist era.'
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