A series on NPR examining the science of God brings up a lot of interesting points, focusing primarily on brain chemistry and structure. Titled Is This Your Brain On God?, the series has five parts, each with accompanying articles and multimedia. The part that I found the most interesting was The God Chemical. 
Evidence has been slowly amassing for decades showing that certain chemicals or mind states can induce spirituality. These types of experiences have been documented by Barbara Bradley Hagerty in her new book Fingerprints of God.
In her interview with Diane Rehm, Barbra says that these experiences reaffirm her personal belief in god, and insists that the science is still inconclusive on whether or not god exists. The evidence could either say that god is simply a creation of certain brain chemistry or that god has set up these conditions in order to communicate with us. She seems to subscribe to the “god on a mountain” idea, that all religious experiences are different paths to the same diving being at the top. This is a lovely idea that could help bridge the divide between adherents of different religions and encourage believers of one religion to accept and value the beliefs of others. However, the similarity of spiritual experiences across religions may be evidence that these experiences are simply due to brain chemistry.
Atheists, agnostics, and non-religious people may have “religious experiences” while taking mind altering chemicals but do not believe there is a supernatural component. If these same chemicals are taken with the presupposition of the supernatural, the experience may be seen as communication with god. Is either view right or wrong? Could these shared experiences somehow help non-religious to better understand the fervor of the religious? I look forward to having this as a discussion topic in the fall semester for our student group. Any thoughts to get us started?
Crossposted at the Atheist and Agnostic Society blog.
I think this research is pretty fascinating, but in retrospect, it seems unsurprising that there would be neurochemicals and regions of the brain that play specific roles in spiritual feelings.
Nor does any of this obviously favor theism or atheism, as far as I can see. Believers like Hagerty can interpret this as God’s mechanism to ensure we can perceive Him. Atheists like myself can interpret it as a neurochemical/neurophysiological phenomenon that occurs despite the (probable) non-existence of any god.
As for understanding the fervor of the religious, I can think of one rather unflattering response. If religious fervor is thought to be triggered by certain neurochemicals, it could be likened to the high triggered by certain drugs. Accordingly, one could argue that the fervently religious are in some sense ‘addicted’ to the relevant neurochemical, similar to the way some contend that thrill-seekers are ‘addicted’ to adrenaline, endorphins, and/or dopamine.
Please note that I’m not arguing in favor of such an interpretation. It just occured to me as one possible view that could actually create more division between believers and non-believers, rather than less.
quetzal said:
While I don’t completely subscribe to it personally, the addiction idea actually fits quite well. A brief google search defined addiction as the “uncontrollable, compulsive drug seeking and use, even in the face of negative health and social consequences”.
If a religious experience is (at least partly) due to certain chemical events in the brain, then some behaviours associated with religion might be seen to be symptoms of addiction to those chemical events. In other words, a compulsive, uncontrollable seeking of “religious ecstasy”, even in the face of negative health and social consequences.
Addiction can be thought of as an evolutionary side-effect, our learning circuitry shorting out slightly, or being forced into a positive feedback loop. These sorts of things are evolutionary tools, designed to learn survival enhancing behaviours. A classic example is our taste or high-energy food, like fat and sugar. Even if you have never tasted honey before the chances are that you will like it, although I’m sure there are a few who won’t, just to be contrary, I’m sure. More importantly, you will want to have more! From here comes that midnight craving for McDonalds:)
So perhaps a religion is a meme that persists by allowing a group to get high together? Perhaps there’s some “sacred ‘erb” in the censor?
*stuffs face with big mac*