Goatfell asked:
if Atheists don't believe in God then why do they pray to him or cry out to him by sayingthings like 'oh my God' or God help me(prayer).


And Little Hawk replied, in part:
It's instinctive, not conscious behaviour.

No, I don't think "instinctive" is the concept, L.H. "Not conscious", sure, but I would say it's cultural conditioning, or habit. "Instinctive" would imply that somewhere built into a human is an inherited mechanism to associate a stubbed toe or other sudden mishap with sex, and I don't think you really mean that. And I don't think that's true of an appeal to a deity either, although no doubt many religious people (and probably Goatfell) might want to think that there's an instinctive, built-in recognition of or need to appeal to (their particular) god.

There just MIGHT be an instinctive trigger to call out with an exclamation or imprecation of some kind under "stubbed-toe" conditions, but "God!" or "Fuck!" or "Son of a bitch!" is no more instinctive than "Gee!" or "Ouch!" or "Rowrbazzle!"

Dave Oesterreich