Atheist therapist Britt Hartley (an ex-Mormon located in Idaho) believes - unsurprisingly - that God is a psychological projection created by the human brain. Not only do gods reflect the human cultures in which they are worshipped, distinct personality types will invariably worship in predictively different ways. Some of her empirical observations are interesting. For instance, what´s up with the connection between engineers and Christian fundamentalism - also remarked upon by others? One unexpected fact is that childhood trauma can lead to increased "pattern recognition" and a hightened sense of spirituality. She also mentions the atheism-autism problematique, temporal lobe epilepsy, psychedelics, etc.
Of course, none of this disproves that God exists (or the Divine, or Cosmic Consciousness). At one point, Hartley somewhat sarcastically wonders if God is a shape-shifter, apparently unaware of the Hindu and Buddhist traditions which do make exactly that claim. Cough cough Ramakrishna cough...
My tentative speculation is that God actually isn´t a shape-shifter. It´s just that our believing brain isn´t (yet) equipped to fully comprehend Him. Or Her, as the case might be!
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