 |
touched by God? Or is God a construct of the human mind? |
The God Spot
by D. Trull
Enigma Editor
Scientists, philosophers and atheists have long argued that God and spirituality are
constructs of the human mind, although that opinion generally hasn't been a popular one.
After centuries of bloody holy wars and fierce theological dispute, the controversy of the
Creator's existence has taken a strange new turn: humanity may finally have uncovered
tangible evidence that the phenomenon of religious faith is all in our heads.
Literally.
A group of neuroscientists at the University of California at San Diego has identified a
region of the human brain that appears to be linked to thoughts of spiritual matters and
prayer. Their findings tentatively suggest that we as a species are genetically programmed
to believe in God.
The researchers came upon these cerebral revelations in the course of studying the brain
patterns of certain people with epilepsy. Epileptics who suffer a particular type of
seizure are often intensely religious, and are known to report an unusual number of
spiritually-oriented visions and obsessions. Measurements of electrical activity in the
brains of test subjects indicated a specific neural center in the temporal lobe that
flared up at times when the subjects thought about God. This same area was also a common
focal point overloaded with electrical discharges during their epileptic seizures.
Could this heretofore unidentified part of the brain -- nicknamed the "God
module" -- actually be some sort of physiological seat of religious belief? The
scientists who discovered it believe it might be. They have performed a further study
comparing epileptic subjects with different groups of non-epileptics -- a random group of
average people, as well as individuals who characterized themselves as extremely
religious. The electrical brain activity of the subjects was recorded while they were
shown a series of words, and the God module zones of the epileptics and the religious
group exhibited similar responses to words involving God and faith. No word yet on whether
the brains of atheists and agnostics might flatline the monitors, but the parallel results
among the strong believers are considered impressive.
"There may be dedicated neural machinery in the temporal lobes concerned with
religion," the research team announced at a conference for the Society for
Neuroscience. "This may have evolved to impose order and stability on society."
Anthropologists and Darwinian theorists have frequently speculated that religion may have
developed as a self-policing mechanism as cooperation with others became useful. With
their intelligence and skills at making weapons, there was little to stop early humans
from slaughtering each other like wild maniacs, until they began to fear unseen beings
even bigger and badder than themselves. This sort of adaptation has always been considered
a purely psychological function, but now we have the first evidence that the religious
instinct may be physically hard-wired right into our noggins.
Which brings us to the most intriguing conundrum posed by the discovery of the God Spot.
It's a double-edged sword shoved right through the heart of the science vs. religion
debate, bearing either good news or bad news for the faithful masses depending on how you
answer the chicken-or-the-egg question: does it mean that God created our brains, or that
our brains created God?
"These studies do not in any way negate the validity of religious experience or
God," the God module's discoverers took care to note, plainly anticipating a
reception of fire and brimstone from certain quarters. "They merely provide an
explanation in terms of brain regions that may be involved."
No matter how inconclusive or sketchy they label their findings as being, these scientists
will inevitably be denounced as heathenistic blasphemers doing the work of Satan. Yet at
the very same time, other equally devout worshipers will praise this discovery as a
beautiful and wondrous epiphany that spells out God's great plan.
So what'll it be? A sacred temple in the temporal lobes, or an incidental conflagration of
the synapses? The Kingdom of Heaven confined to the insides of our skulls, or "I
think of God, therefore He is"? Touched in the head by an angel, or brainwashed into
belief by biology?
Believe what you want, but either way, I think those who draw any serious mechanistic or
teleological conclusions from this research ought to have their heads examined, as well.
Sources: The Times (London); The Los Angeles Times