ReligionLink

Scientists are studying the brains of nuns, monks and lesser spiritual beings to find out what happens during intense religious experiences. Some theologians and religion scholars say scientists are simply recording emotions without shedding light on the spiritual realm. But others think the researchers are raising profound questions about the nature of God and the human soul and bridging the gap between science and religion.

Critics of such research and its conclusions believe that some neuroscientists lack a sophisticated understanding of religion and mistake their cataloging of emotion with spirituality. Proponents say such scientists bring an appreciation of religion to the scientific endeavor.

In the future, new scientific studies in genetics and new imaging techniques, enabling more precise measurement necessary for studying religious phenomena, will allow even more sophisticated scientific endeavors. Theologians and religious scholars will continue to ask whether such research destroys the notion of a soul and debate whether there is one core of religious experience or many different ways of being religious.

Why it Matters

Increasingly sophisticated information about brain activity during religious experience leads to debate about the nature – and existence – of God and how God acts in the world and communicates with human beings. The very notion of the soul is called into question. Research on religion and the brain, then, raises some of the most fundamental theological questions of our time.

Questions for reporters

• What are the most important new developments in the field of neuroscience and religion?

• What are the key areas of disagreement between scientists and theologians?

• Is there a biological basis for human perception of the spiritual realm?

• Can a biological basis for the experience of God be equated with God?

• Does brain research destroy the notion of a soul?

• Do many scientists in brain research have a naïve view of religion?

• Who is combining rigorous scientific study with a sophisticated analysis of religion?

• What do theologians think of specific research projects, such as ones that seek to stimulate a “God experience”?

• What’s in store for the future of such research?

• What are the theological questions that need to be addressed in this area?

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National sources

• Andrew Newberg, a professor in the department of radiology and psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, is a co-author of Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief (Random House, 2002). Newberg and his colleagues used high-tech imaging techniques to examine the brains of meditating Buddhists and Franciscan nuns at prayer. The scientists concluded that intense spiritual contemplation triggers an alteration in brain activity. Newberg says that neuroscience can elucidate the nature of mystical experiences and why the need for a concept of God is important to the survival of the species. Contact 215-662-3092, newberg@uphs.upenn.edu.

• Vilayanur S. Ramachandran, director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, San Diego, is a pioneer in experimental neurology who found that patients who suffer seizures from temporal lobe epilepsy display an unusual obsession with religious matters. Contact 858-534-6240, vramacha@ucds.edu.

• Sister Ilia Delio, a neuropharmacologist and associate professor of spirituality and ecclesiastical history at Washington Theological Union, believes that because human beings are created by God, they have the means, including the “hard-wiring” of the brain, to know God. But she is adamant that a biological basis for the experience of God cannot be equated with God. God, she believes, is the ground of all that exists and cannot in any way be equated with material reality, including the brain. Contact 202-541-5242, delio@wtu.edu.

• Michael Persinger, biology professor at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, has conducted experiments with a helmet that pulses bursts of electrical activity to the brain, stimulating what he calls a “God experience.” The experience of God, he says, is definitely produced in the brain. Contact 705-675-1151, mpersinger@laurentian.ca.

• Mario Beauregard, University of Montreal neuroscientist, is studying when religious feelings are experienced by using sophisticated brain scans to see inside the brains of Carmelite nuns as they recall a spiritual experience. He will have results in May 2005, when he will be willing to talk to reporters. Contact Mario.beauregard@umontreal.ca. (He prefers email.)

• Jerry Larsen, senior minister at Los Altos United Methodist Church in Long Beach, Calif., is the author of Religious Education and the Brain: A Practical Resource for Understanding How We Learn About God (Paulist Press, 2000). He is director of the Center for the Study of Religion and the Brain, dedicated to exploring the relationship between faith and cognition. Contact 562-598-2451, jllarsen@ix.netcom.com.

• Robert John Russell, director of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences and professor of theology and science at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif., is an ordained minister and leading researcher committed to a positive interaction between the fields of theology and science. He is co-editor of Quantum Mechanics: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action (CTNS and Vatican Observatory/University of Notre Dame Press, 2001). Contact 510-848-8152, rrussell@ctns.org.

• Nancey Murphy, professor of Christian philosophy at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., is the author of Theology in the Age of Scientific Reasoning (Cornell University Press, 1990). She thinks that how God acts in the natural world is one of the most pressing theological questions. And she believes that God’s action in human life must be via interaction with the human brain. Contact 626-584-5253, numurphy@fuller.edu.

Background

Some of the most comprehensive and thoughtful stories on religion and the brain were published in 2001, when leading scientists were in the early stages of their experimentation, and provide excellent background for reporters new to the field. It’s time for a new generation of stories reflecting advances in science and theological thinking.

• For an overview of the subject, read a May 7, 2001, Newsweek story, “Religion and the Brain” by Sharon Begley, posted on the American-Buddha.com web site.

• For an interview with leading researchers, read a Nov. 9, 2001, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly story, “Religion and the Brain.”

• For more personal reflection on brain research and religion, read a Sept. 17, 2001, New Yorker story, “God and the Brain,” by Jerome Groopman.

• Read “The Decade of the Brain,” an article by Philip J. Boyle that appeared in the September 2001 issue of Bulletin, a publication of the Park Ridge Center for Health, Faith and Ethics.

Regional sources

IN THE NORTHEAST

• Steven Pinker, psychology professor at Harvard University, formerly with the department of brain and cognitive sciences at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the author of six books, including How the Mind Works (Norton, 1999) and The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature (Penguin, 2002). He says that seeing morality as a product of the brain is less dangerous than the idea that morality is invested in the commands of religious authority. Sept. 11, he says, is only a recent example of where morality derived from religion leads. Contact 617-495-0831, pinker@wjh.harvard.edu.

• David Wulff, Wheaton College psychology professor in Norton, Mass., is interested in the neurological underpinnings of spiritual and mystical experiences. Contact 508-286-3691, Dwulff@wheatoncollege.edu.

• The Rev. Nihal C. De Lanerolle is neurosurgery professor at Yale University of Medicine and chaplain-in-residence of the Episcopal Church at Yale in New Haven, Conn. A specialist in the analysis of human seizure foci, he believes that the dialogue between science and religion informs and clarifies assumptions of both endeavors. Contact 203-785-2597, nihal.delanerolle@yale.edu.

• Rebecca Sachs Norris, religion professor at Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass., argues that religious states are transmitted and learned through the body, that particular qualities of perception and memory are necessary for this process and that neurobiology and cognitive science provide material to support this claim. Scientific and experiential perspectives, she says, can coexist. Contact 978-837-5000 ext. 4521, Rebecca.Norris@merrimack.edu.

• Michael Gazzaniga, director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., has lectured on “The Neurobiology of our Moral Compass.” Contact Michael.s.gazziniga@dartmouth.edu.

IN THE EAST

• John Haught, a theologian at George Washington University, believes that spiritual experiences are connected to the brain processes and dependent on them, but not reducible to them. He says it is possible to distinguish between the chemical basis of experiences and the experiences themselves. Life and mind cannot be reduced to chemistry any more than the content of a written page can be reduced to the chemistry of ink and paper, he says. Contact 202-687-6119, haughyj@georgetown.edu.

• Matthew Alper, New York-based author of The “God” Part of the Brain: A Scientific Interpretation of Human Spirituality and God (Rogue Press, 2001), proposes a biological basis for human perception and the spiritual realm. He believes that evolutionary adaptations account for the existence of regions in the brain that generate spiritual consciousness. These regions, he says, emerged through natural selection. Contact 718-638-3622, godpart@aol.com.

IN THE SOUTHEAST

• George Graham, Wake Forest University philosophy professor, says it can be difficult to distinguish between signs of illness and religious insight, particularly when the purported insight raises doubts about the emotional health of the religious person. Contact 336-758-3328, grahamg@wfu.edu.

• Charles L. Raison, psychiatry professor at Emory University in Atlanta, has studied Tibetan Buddhism’s effects on the brain. Contact 404-727-8800, craison@emory.edu.

IN THE SOUTH

• Matt Rossano, Southeastern Louisiana University psychology professor, studies consciousness, the evolution of the brain and religion and science. Contact 985-549-5537, mrossano@selu.edu.

• Sohee Park, a professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, has studied shamanism and the brain. Contact 615-322-2532, Sohee.Park@Vanderbilt.edu.

IN THE MIDWEST

• Carol Rausch Albright of Chicago is co-author of The Humanizing Brain: Where Religion and Neuroscience Meet (Pilgrim Press, 1997). Albright believes that human beings’ experience of God involves virtually every part of the brain. She is currently writing about the interface of neuroscience, spiritual growth and complexity studies. Contact 773-667-5342, albright1@aol.com.

• Antonio R. Damasio, University of Iowa neurology professor, studies fundamental mechanisms of cognition. He is the author of The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness (Harcourt, 2000) Contact 319-356-4296, Antonio-damasio@uiowa.edu.

• Gregory Peterson, philosophy and religion professor at South Dakota State University, is the author of Minding God: Theology and the Cognitive Sciences (Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2002) His primary area of research is the dialogue of science and religion. Contact 605-688-4933; Greg.Peterson@sdstate.edu.

IN THE SOUTHWEST

• Samuel Brinkman, neuropsychologist and psychology professor at Abilene Christian University in Texas, has lectured on how studying the brain can lead to insights about morality, spirituality and personal responsibility. Contact 325-677-3172, sdbrinkman@hotmail.com.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST

• Kelly Bulkeley, a visiting scholar at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif., is the author of The Wondering Brain: Thinking About Religion With and Beyond Cognitive Neuroscience (Routledge, 2004). He says there is great concern among theologians and scholars of religious studies about whether brain research destroys the notion of the soul. They will also continue to debate whether there is one core of religious experience or many different ways of being religious. Contact 510-528-7198, Kellybulkeley@earthlink.net.

• Warren Brown, psychology professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., has said that studies of neuroscience and religiousness have been simplistic and naive about religion. He wants neuroscience to get away from the idea that human behavior is nothing but the outcome of the laws of biology, chemistry and physics. Religion, he believes, needs to shed the idea of dualism, which says it is theologically necessary for humans to have a nonmaterial soul. Brown has written about the integration of neuroscience and Christian faith. Contact 626-584-5525, wsbrown@fuller.edu.

• Nina Azari, University of Hawaii psychology professor, considers religious experience in the context of neuroscience. She argues that religious experience cannot be reduced to either pure feeling or pure thought. Rather, religious experience is a matter of social-relational meaning, for which thought and feeling are inextricably bound together. She is designing functional neuroimaging studies to investigate further the neural basis of religious experience. Azari doesn’t think the field can advance without a rigorous interdisciplinary approach to the topic of religious phenomena. Contact 808-933-3166, azari@hawaii.edu.

• Michael Arbib is professor of computer science, biological sciences, biomedical engineering, neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He believes that findings about brain function may challenge cherished religious assumptions. Contact 213-740-9220, arbib@pollux.usc.edu.