£2m study prays for answer

An article in The Times, Why do we believe in God? £2m study prays for answer reports that researchers at the University of Oxford will spend £1.9 million investigating why people believe in God. The purpose of the grant is to try to find out whether belief in a deity is a matter of nature or nurture. Therefore the academics have will not attempt to solve the question of whether God exists but they will examine evidence to try to prove whether belief in God conferred an evolutionary advantage to mankind. They will also consider the possibility that faith developed as a byproduct of other human characteristics, such as sociability.