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Religiosity and the Brain
by Phil Stahl
| The human brain possesses the incredible capacity to generate symbols and sounds of language, for which there exists no corresponding entity in the real world! This means that humans are just as capable of producing meaningless noise as they are of producing information-based signals. |
"Mars has completed three orbits of the Sun" generates information, but "The elephant-baboon jumped over the Moon" is gibberish. It is up to each person, as a critical thinker, to be able to distinguish these cases and thereby separate linguistic "wheat" from "chaff." In many instances it is trivial, but in many others (such as religious language) it is rendered much more difficult by "supernatural" overtones which skeptics are supposed to respect as some kind of alternate truth. |
A case in point is the entity known as "soul." Merely because religious folk can invoke the word, we're expected to embrace it. However, if such an extraordinary entity is alleged to exist, then it requires extraordinary evidence to support it. Or, as the late Carl Sagan noted: "extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence." |
The "soul" is extraordinary in the sense that it is presumed to be an integral part of the human, and yet is beyond empirical detection. This "soul" is supposed to add color or flavor (as well as quality) to our lives, and even direct the mind-corpus system! Even more astounding, this marvelous entity is proposed to exist for eternity in either "heaven" or "hell" (more nonsense syllables). |
Why are we justified in this skepticism? One answer lies in the research of Prof. Michael Persinger, in his temporal lobe stimulation experiments at Laurentian University at Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. The evidence thus far points to religious "experience" as a byproduct of the brain, and not an objective or external reality. |
In the case of Persinger's work, it now appears that micro-seizures in the brain's temporal lobes give rise to the various confections of religiosity. For one person these seizures may induce a trance-like state and "oneness with the cosmos." For another, the Virgin Mary may be seen. For yet another, the "soul" is sensed as an abiding force or energy. |
In none of these cases, however, is there one scintilla of objective reality. It's as if the perceiver has been fooled by his own internal virtual reality machine! |
These preliminary findings make it highly improbable that there is any significant "message" in the language of religion. More than likely, when the final answer arrives, it will reveal religion to be an instinctual proclivity of human behavior not too different from the need to socialize. (Indeed, most religious rituals involve humans assembling together in "congregations.") |
Indeed, some findings already tend to the conclusion that "God" is hard-wired into human brains. Perhaps genetically. Further research in this area may shed light on why a minority group (atheists) do not share the species' predisposition to worship a deity or higher power. Do they lack the genetic profiles necessary? We shall have to wait to find out. |
Despite the fact that the Atheist -Freethinker lacks a 'god gene', there's no cause for concern or worry. This derives from the Freethinker's use of empirical science and open, rational inquiry as a guide. History discloses these are more trustworthy paths to objective truth than blindly following the god-wired brain. |
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