--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I am aware that the assumed instinctive…" description: "\"I am aware that the assumed instinctive belief in God has been used by many persons as an argument for his existence. The idea of a universal and benef..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b85/charles-darwin-507_agnosticism_i-am-aware-that-the-assumed-instinctive_741942.jpg" --- # I am aware that the assumed instinctive belief in God has… ![“I am aware that the assumed instinctive belief in God has been used by many persons as an argument for his existence. The idea of a universal and beneficent Creator does not seem to arise in the mind of man, until he has been elevated by long-continued culture.” quote by Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b85/charles-darwin-507_agnosticism_i-am-aware-that-the-assumed-instinctive_741942.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b85/charles-darwin-507_agnosticism_i-am-aware-that-the-assumed-instinctive_741942.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b85/charles-darwin-507_agnosticism_i-am-aware-that-the-assumed-instinctive_741942.jpg) > “I am aware that the assumed instinctive belief in God has been used by many persons as an argument for his existence. The idea of a universal and beneficent Creator does not seem to arise in the mind of man, until he has been elevated by long-continued culture.” [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Darwin argues that belief in a benevolent creator is a cultural construct, not an innate human instinct. **In simple terms:** Belief in God emerges from culture, not instinct. Key Takeaway Recognize cultural influences on belief. Themes culture religion philosophy human nature Mood thoughtful analytical Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - anthropology - education - personal reflection - interfaith dialogue Key Concepts social construct cognitive development theology Questions to Reflect On - How does culture shape your view of the divine? - Can belief arise without cultural influence? A Different Perspective Cultural conditioning may not explain all spiritual experiences. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Agnosticism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/agnosticism/) [Argument](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/argument/) [Arise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arise/) [Assumed Instinctive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/assumed-instinctive-2199181/) [Atheism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/atheism/) [Belief](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/belief/) [Belief God](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/belief-god/) [Belief in god](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/belief-in-god/) [Creator](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creator/) [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Doe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doe/) [Existence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existence/) [Faith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/faith/) [God](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/god/) [God Used](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/god-used/) [Has beens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/has-beens/) [Ideas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ideas/) [Instinctive Belief](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/instinctive-belief-2199180/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Long](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/long/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Persons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/persons/) [Positive atheism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/positive-atheism/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Seems](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seems/) [Universal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/universal/) [Used](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/used/) ## Related quotes > [The assumed instinctive belief in God has been used by many persons as an argument for his existence. But this is a rash argument,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/the-assumed-instinctive-belief-in-god-has-been-used-by-many-persons/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [“Belief in God meant belief in the old tribal idol called Jehovah; and I would not pretend I did not know whether it existed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/belief-in-god-meant-belief-in-the-old-tribal-idol-called-jehovah-and/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [The belief in God has often been advanced as not only the greatest but the most complete of all the distinctions between man and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/the-belief-in-god-has-often-been-advanced-as-not-only-the-greatest/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [“She went downstairs slowly and sat in front of the fire, rocking herself to and fro as she imagined all of the harm he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-ackroyd/she-went-downstairs-slowly-and-sat-in-front-of-the-fire-rocking/) [Peter Ackroyd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-ackroyd/) > [“You take away my golden dreams and my visions of paradise, in its place you wake me up and hand me your reasons and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bangambiki-habyarimana/you-take-away-my-golden-dreams-and-my-visions-of-paradise-in-its/) [Bangambiki Habyarimana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bangambiki-habyarimana/) > [Belief in God is an elementary form of selflessness - the acknowledgement of responsibility toward a hypothetical 'Other'.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-stableford/belief-in-god-is-an-elementary-form-of-selflessness-the/) [Brian Stableford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-stableford/) > [Christianity has such a contemptible opinion of human nature that it does not believe a man can tell the truth unless frightened by a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-green-ingersoll/christianity-has-such-a-contemptible-opinion-of-human-nature-that-it/) [Robert Green Ingersoll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-green-ingersoll/) > [My belief in God has been helping me play the way I'm playing. But for the most part, I've just been working on my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kemba-walker/my-belief-in-god-has-been-helping-me-play-the-way-i-m-playing-but-for/) [Kemba Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kemba-walker/) > [ I remember clearly that when I was little it was explained to me \[that\] the way that babies were made was that God put… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ira-glass/i-remember-clearly-that-when-i-was-little-it-was-explained-to-me-that/) [Ira Glass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ira-glass/) > [A nation which thinks that it is belief in God and not good law which makes people honest does not seem to me very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-diderot/a-nation-which-thinks-that-it-is-belief-in-god-and-not-good-law-which/) [Denis Diderot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-diderot/) > [I have a strong belief in God... I find religion to be a very personal thing... I am also very spiritual.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sela-ward/i-have-a-strong-belief-in-god-i-find-religion-to-be-a-very-personal/) [Sela Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sela-ward/) > [A belief in God helps provide a foundation to arbitrate our decisions. Without this foundation, we are condemned to live essentially formless lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/armstrong-williams/a-belief-in-god-helps-provide-a-foundation-to-arbitrate-our-decisions/) [Armstrong Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/armstrong-williams/) > [Everybody dies. There’s nothing you can do about it. Whether or not you eat six almonds a day. Whether or not you believe in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nora-ephron/everybody-dies-there-s-nothing-you-can-do-about-it-whether-or-not-you/) [Nora Ephron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nora-ephron/) > [“What is it about our specific belief in God and His wishes that makes us so angry at the specific beliefs of another? What…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-austen/what-is-it-about-our-specific-belief-in-god-and-his-wishes-that-makes/) [Chuck Austen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-austen/) > [“She stood and tried hard not to believe in God. It seemed mean and petty to have more belief in God when things were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-galsworthy/she-stood-and-tried-hard-not-to-believe-in-god-it-seemed-mean-and/) [John Galsworthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-galsworthy/) ## More by Charles Darwin > [The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/the-love-for-all-living-creatures-is-the-most-noble-attribute-of-man/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [The main conclusion here arrived at ... is that man is descended from some less highly organized form.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/the-main-conclusion-here-arrived-at-is-that-man-is-descended-from/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [So great is the economy of nature, that most flowers which are fertilised by crepuscular or nocturnal insects emit their odour chiefly or exclusively…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/so-great-is-the-economy-of-nature-that-most-flowers-which-are/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [I see no good reasons why the views given in this volume should shock the religious views of anyone.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/i-see-no-good-reasons-why-the-views-given-in-this-volume-should-shock/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [I am quite conscious that my speculations run beyond the bounds of true science…It is a mere rag of an hypothesis with as many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/i-am-quite-conscious-that-my-speculations-run-beyond-the-bounds-of/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [If worms have the power of acquiring some notion, however rude, of the shape of an object and over their burrows, as seems the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/if-worms-have-the-power-of-acquiring-some-notion-however-rude-of-the/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [We can allow satellites, planets, suns, universe, nay whole systems of universes, to be governed by laws, but the smallest insect, we wish to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/we-can-allow-satellites-planets-suns-universe-nay-whole-systems-of/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [Formerly Milton's Paradise Lost had been my chief favourite, and in my excursions during the voyage of the Beagle, when I could take only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/formerly-milton-s-paradise-lost-had-been-my-chief-favourite-and-in-my/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [May we not suspect that the vague but very real fears of children, which are quite independent of experience, are the inherited effects of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/may-we-not-suspect-that-the-vague-but-very-real-fears-of-children/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [It may be said that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinizing, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/it-may-be-said-that-natural-selection-is-daily-and-hourly/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [“Darwin, landing in Brazil in 1832, had a similar reaction, colored by his reading of his predecessor." Humboldt's glorious descriptions are & will for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/darwin-landing-in-brazil-in-1832-had-a-similar-reaction-colored-by/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [...all nature is perverse & will not do as I wish it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/all-nature-is-perverse-will-not-do-as-i-wish-it/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [“To admit that species generally become rare before they become extinct—to feel no surprise at the comparative rarity of one species with another, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/to-admit-that-species-generally-become-rare-before-they-become/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [To suppose that the eye could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/to-suppose-that-the-eye-could-have-been-formed-by-natural-selection/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank clothed with many plants of many kinds with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/it-is-interesting-to-contemplate-an-entangled-bank-clothed-with-many/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) [Explore all 497 Charles Darwin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) ## More Agnosticism quotes > [A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty - it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-einstein/a-knowledge-of-the-existence-of-something-we-cannot-penetrate-of-the/) [Albert Einstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-einstein/) > [The prayer of the agnostic: "O God, if there is a God, save my soul if I have a soul."](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-renan/the-prayer-of-the-agnostic-o-god-if-there-is-a-god-save-my-soul-if-i/) [Ernest Renan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-renan/) > [“Some people are so stiff and inhumane as the dogma's they believe in”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bangambiki-habyarimana/some-people-are-so-stiff-and-inhumane-as-the-dogma-s-they-believe-in/) [Bangambiki Habyarimana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bangambiki-habyarimana/) > [Agnosticism is the natural attitude of the evolutionist. How can a brute mind comprehend spiritual things?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-jennings-bryan/agnosticism-is-the-natural-attitude-of-the-evolutionist-how-can-a/) [William Jennings Bryan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-jennings-bryan/) > [“An atheist is someone who is disappointed in his search of god. He is a man who strongly needed god but couldn't find him.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bangambiki-habyarimana/an-atheist-is-someone-who-is-disappointed-in-his-search-of-god-he-is/) [Bangambiki Habyarimana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bangambiki-habyarimana/) > [Intellect, at its best, can make you agnostic. Being theist or atheist is still a matter of choice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raheel-farooq/intellect-at-its-best-can-make-you-agnostic-being-theist-or-atheist/) [Raheel Farooq](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raheel-farooq/) > [To be agnostic is to be open-minded.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/to-be-agnostic-is-to-be-open-minded/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [The religious hypothesis, therefore, must be considered only as a particular method of accounting for the visible phenomena of the universe: but no just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hume/the-religious-hypothesis-therefore-must-be-considered-only-as-a/) [David Hume](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hume/) > [The world is continuous flux and is impermanent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gautama-buddha/the-world-is-continuous-flux-and-is-impermanent/) [Gautama Buddha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gautama-buddha/) > [“I'm agnostic. By definition, I'm unsure of what to believe in, but I'm also borderline-capable of believing in anything and everything, or nothing at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lauren-lola/i-m-agnostic-by-definition-i-m-unsure-of-what-to-believe-in-but-i-m/) [Lauren Lola](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lauren-lola/) > [“The Agnostic is one who asserts 'what no one denies' that there are limits to the sphere of human intelligence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leslie-stephen/the-agnostic-is-one-who-asserts-what-no-one-denies-that-there-are/) [Leslie Stephen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leslie-stephen/) > [I have only a small flickering light to guide me in the darkness of a thick forest. Up comes a theologian and blows it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denis-diderot/i-have-only-a-small-flickering-light-to-guide-me-in-the-darkness-of-a/) [Denis Diderot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denis-diderot/) > [“...The Presidential election has given me less anxiety than I myself could have imagined. The next administration will be a troublesome one, to whomsoever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-adams/the-presidential-election-has-given-me-less-anxiety-than-i-myself/) [John Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-adams/) > [We are enabled to apprehend at all what is sublime and noble only by the perpetual instilling and drenching of the reality that surrounds…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/we-are-enabled-to-apprehend-at-all-what-is-sublime-and-noble-only-by/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) > [“We should be agnostic about those things for which there is no evidence. We should not hold beliefs merely because they gratify our desires…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/we-should-be-agnostic-about-those-things-for-which-there-is-no/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 275 Agnosticism quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/agnosticism/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I am aware that the assumed instinctive belief in God has been used by many persons as an argument for his existence. 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