Faith and the Brain

[Abdu-l-Majeed]

The experiment is non-sense to me. Nobody believes the God lives in the brain, so what makes this experiment scientific? It's like going to a desert and looking for polar bears. Not only that: that are not our reactions which proove someone's existence.

 

[ranma1/2]

In the most recent issue of Time Magazine, I read an article by a person comparing the brains of people who reject a statement based on their faith like " GOd is dead", and likening it to the mental response of a person who encounters a bad smell. Similar areas of the brain light up. Now the psychologies conducting the experiment was an active Atheist who has authored a book about his cause called The End of Faith.

Why do people try to use the human body, God's creation, to try and disprove beliefs about God? They claim that we believers say that faith is some type of magical feeling that doesn't appear bodily in any way? Doesn't God work his miracles in the world through what he has created? ^o)

This man is trying to bring down belief by likening it to smell. Your opinions or thoughts??

im not sure i quite understand the problem. I can see(well imagine) how religous individuals or anyone for that matter would have a similar use of the brain for something they dont like.
I dont see anything particular anti-religious about it.

Got a link to the article?

 

[czgibson]

Greetings,

This looks like the article being discussed.

I can quite readily believe that one's faith position will cause different areas of the brain to react when faced with statements one agrees or disagrees with. I think the really controversial part of this study will be if Harris manages somehow to show that religious faith is physiologically no different to other types of belief, such as my belief that strawberries are delicious or that 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' is the best film ever made.

I've read Harris' book, 'The End of Faith', and while I disagree with his politics, his arguments about the existence of god are rock solid. Mind you, they are simply updates of arguments that philosophers have been refining for centuries, so they have a strong pedigree.

Peace