Belief in a God or the supernatural is, nowadays often attributed to one's mind labouring under a delusion, a flight of fancy, mental trickery or simple indoctrination by external, human powers.
If this is the case, does that mean that 'believers' have a weakness that allows them to fall into this trap? Contemporary studies attempt to find the part of the brain that gives people a pre-disposition to belief, while Dawkin's famously calls it a 'Delusion'. Meanwhile many MANY normal people imply that believers are, to put it succinctly - stupid.
Thoughts?
SeasideMan
Pro


Calling it a "weakness" doesn't seem entirely fair to me. Lots of people get a great deal of comfort from their beliefs and would say that such comfort is sufficient reason for their believing.
As to whether it's a delusion, my personal view is mostly in accord with Dawkins' as there is no evidence for the existence of a god or gods. However, the strict meaning of a "delusion" is "A false belief strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence", and whilst it is possible to show some gods as logically impossible based on the definition and attributes ascribed by believers, this cannot be done for all possible gods. Hence, Dawkins is not entirely correct to call belief in a god or gods a "delusion" although his logic is unassailable for many gods.
Tom.