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i suggest they give me the $4m and i'll give them their answer.
they are looking in the wrong place ( the mind ) - now if they can look into the heart of man then they might begin to scape the surface of the majesty of God. let's get a quick grasp of Gods power and majesty........
approx. one million earths can fit into our sun......approx. 2100 of our suns could fit into VY Canis Majoris..so it takes 21,000,000,000 earths to make one VY sun....and scriptures says this.....

"Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also." He simply spoke these into existence. He is an awesome God.

my parent never once took me to church or ever spoke to me as a child about God or His existence, yet my perception of God and His power started when i was young. science has its place and much we owe it but as far as it proving or disproving whether God conscientiousness is nurture or nature, well i'm not sure about that. seems almost as common sense might dictate that it is a little of each added to the fact that God chooses whom He will.

buz's grasps of human anatomy and astronomy appear to be vying with one another for the title of 'worst grasp, ever'.

actually, belief happens in the mind. the heart is an organ dedicated to the pumping of blood. the fact that the sun is so much bigger than the earth was discovered through empirical observation, not divine revelation. the bible is not a science textbook. its description of the moon as a "great light" is a good example of the kind (and magnitude) of scientific errors it so frequently makes.

so much for that. back to the topic in hand...

the question is a good one (albeit the high price tag). why *do* people believe? saying "we believe because it's true" just begs the question. as Daniel Dennett noted in his "Breaking the Spell" - people frequently fail to differentiate between "I believe there is a God" and "there is a God". the two statements are not identical. the belief itself is subject to inquiry.

the theory that people learn to "believe" in childhood - when they learn to accept whatever facts are handed to them by their elders - also makes a lot of sense. that must be why kids raised in Arkansas tend to grow up to be God-fearing Christians, while their Afghan counterparts tend to grow up to be Allah-fearing Muslims.

why you believe what you believe is not so simple as you might believe. lots of Christians (and Muslims) tend to forget that fact. or at least, not fund studies of it.

A lot of research has already been done on the subject of the psychology of religion. I've read several books on it, and it is indeed a complex and fascinating subject.

I think it's sort of interesting that this research is being funded by the Templeton folks. Ironic, really. Templeton has wanted science to prove God's existence for many years now, and so far, it's done nothing of the sort. Kind of a bad return on investment, I expect.

"the heart is an organ dedicated to the pumping of blood." E'man

Well, anyone who has any literary sense knows that the term "heart" is very often used to connote the inner motivational and affective aspects of human perception. Both the Greek "kardia" and "lev" can also mean "mind."

What I believe Buz is saying is that the cognitive functions of the human brain are merely an aspect (a very limited one) of his total perceptive capacity. There is also the pneuma, or spirit of a person. The heart and the spirit are used in Scripture to denote that aspect of man that is able to sync with the Divine Spirit, gain revelation and insight, and commune with God.

Because of the immense complexity and subtlety of the human spirit-soul (and mind) it indeed is ultimately impossible to dissect and analyse either God or man in this supramental realm. It is a gestalt, the sum of which is far greater than any of its consituent parts.

Man's need and yearning for transcendence is built-in by his Creator, man being made in His image and likeness, with a capacity to commune with Him in the spiritual realm. All the test tubes, stats and academic speculations that can ever be devised will NEVER be able to adequately understand or explain the spiritual life.
St. Paul says:

"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. I Cor. 2

As complicated and erudite as this research may be (and sometimes very interesting) it will always be woefully inadequate to deal with spiritual matters, especially man's capacity to know and commune with God. As Jesus put it: "I am the way, the truth and the life." God has designed and authorized the way to come to Him and know Him. It's His way or no way.

sorry englishdan that you did not grasp what i was trying to convey and thanks nikos for your very apt description of my import.