From Newsweek: Why Religious beliefs may not be innate.
I often think that yes, the brain is somewhat hardwired for belief, however maybe not? Here is some evidence contrary to my predisposition:
As we learn more about the brain we are discovering that the same circuitry to envision "what if" scenarios (about our pasts or futures) are what we use to imagine angels and demons - Gods. For example in addition to the habits of thought that lead us to see the supernatural in the natural - neuroimaging studies have suggested we come preloaded with the software for belief. For instance, the brain has a region, the parietal lobe, that detects where our body physically ends and the larger world begins. But this circuitry can be silenced by intense prayer or meditation, neuroscientist Andrew Newberg has found, producing a sense of oneness with the cosmos or God.
Some people are more prone to feeling this sensation than others.
However, a 2008 Pew survey found that the number of American non-believers has doubled since 1990! And increased even more in other advanced democracies. What's curious is not so much the overall decline of belief as the pattern. In a paper last month in the online journal Evolutionary Psychology, Gregory Paul finds that countries with the lowest rates of social dysfunction—based on 25 measures, including rates of homicide, abortion, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, unemployment, and poverty—have become the most secular. Those with the most dysfunction, such as Portugal and the U.S., are the most religious, as measured by self-professed belief, church attendance, habits of prayer, and the like.
Here's the interesting part:
More interesting is the fact that if social progress can snuff out religious belief in millions of people, as Paul notes, then one must question "the idea that religiosity and belief in the supernatural is the default mode of the brain," he told me. As he wrote in his new paper, "The ease with which large populations abandon serious theism when conditions are sufficiently benign . . . refute hypotheses that religious belief and practice are the normal, deeply set human mental state." He posits that, rather than being wired into the brain, religion is a way to cope with stress in a dysfunctional society—the opium-of-the-people argument.
If you interested the link is at the top of the page.
Cheers,
Michael
NOTE: It does make one wonder (as posited in the article): Does religiosity lead to social dysfunction? If YES then what? Is it possible that many of the problems in the poorest countries are a direct result of their being so religious? A vicious cycle?
I often think that yes, the brain is somewhat hardwired for belief, however maybe not? Here is some evidence contrary to my predisposition:
As we learn more about the brain we are discovering that the same circuitry to envision "what if" scenarios (about our pasts or futures) are what we use to imagine angels and demons - Gods. For example in addition to the habits of thought that lead us to see the supernatural in the natural - neuroimaging studies have suggested we come preloaded with the software for belief. For instance, the brain has a region, the parietal lobe, that detects where our body physically ends and the larger world begins. But this circuitry can be silenced by intense prayer or meditation, neuroscientist Andrew Newberg has found, producing a sense of oneness with the cosmos or God.
Some people are more prone to feeling this sensation than others.
However, a 2008 Pew survey found that the number of American non-believers has doubled since 1990! And increased even more in other advanced democracies. What's curious is not so much the overall decline of belief as the pattern. In a paper last month in the online journal Evolutionary Psychology, Gregory Paul finds that countries with the lowest rates of social dysfunction—based on 25 measures, including rates of homicide, abortion, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, unemployment, and poverty—have become the most secular. Those with the most dysfunction, such as Portugal and the U.S., are the most religious, as measured by self-professed belief, church attendance, habits of prayer, and the like.
Here's the interesting part:
More interesting is the fact that if social progress can snuff out religious belief in millions of people, as Paul notes, then one must question "the idea that religiosity and belief in the supernatural is the default mode of the brain," he told me. As he wrote in his new paper, "The ease with which large populations abandon serious theism when conditions are sufficiently benign . . . refute
If you interested the link is at the top of the page.
Cheers,
Michael
NOTE: It does make one wonder (as posited in the article): Does religiosity lead to social dysfunction? If YES then what? Is it possible that many of the problems in the poorest countries are a direct result of their being so religious? A vicious cycle?
