In a number of places in the Heavenly Doctrines there are teachings about people being born with an inclination to believe in God.
There is a universal influx from God into the souls of men of the truth that there is a God, and that He is one. (True Christian Religion 8)
[S]ensuous truth, ...the first truth that insinuates itself... in childhood.... ...consists in seeing all earthly and worldly things as being created by God, and each and every thing for a purpose, and in all things whatsoever a certain image of God's kingdom. [Note: This may not happen to everyone: the passage goes on to say that “such truth is implanted in none but the celestial man....”] (Arcana Coelestia 1434)
In class today, theolog Stephen Muires talked about a
recent article in
The Daily Telegraph that confirms these teachings.
Dr Justin Barrett, a senior researcher at the University of Oxford's Centre for Anthropology and Mind, claims that young people have a predisposition to believe in a supreme being because they assume that everything in the world was created with a purpose.
I'm sure that many people will disagree with this guy's research and conclusions but it makes sense from a New Church perspective.
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