Do you think your Brain determines your religious belief's?

Question

Here is what TIME is saying?
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1694723,00.html?cnn=yes
Harris tested how the brain responded to assertions in seven categories: mathematical, geographic, semantic, factual, autobiographical, ethical and religious. All seven provided some useful data, but only the ones relating to math and ethics produced results clear enough to give a vivid picture of the way the simple and the complex, the subjective and the objective intertwine. Regardless of their content, statements that the subjects believed lit up the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (VMPC), a location in the brain best known for processing reward, emotion and taste. Equally "primitive" areas associated with taste, pain perception and disgust determined disbelief. "False propositions may actually disgust us," Harris writes.

Answer 1

No. I don't have "religious" beliefs, but I do believe in the one True God. It's my heart, not my brain that tells me what is the truth. The Truth that was implanted in me by the Holy Spirit, who lives in me.

Answer 2

No.

Read the article and try to keep up.

What it means is that what you believe is true is reinforced by a response in the pleasure/reward centers of the brain and what you disbelieve is reinforced in the pain/disgust centers of the brain.

So what this does is it reinforces whatever the person was taught as a child. It shows that children are indoctrinated into religions and then tend to stay there because of that indoctrination. It takes extra effort to then break away from that belief. People get addicted to belief.

It is like smoking. If you force your child to smoke they will initially not want to do it. But then they become addicted - cigarettes trigger reactions in the pleasure reward centers of the brain. The smoker may know that they are slowly killing themselves, but they care for that less than the immediate reward of smoking.


How does it feel to be a God junkie?

Answer 3

If you don't have a love for the truth then your IQ based on what your learning or have learned will be way down. TRue Genius never settle for what is supposed to be the truth or the answer. They seek the reason why and find that learning one thing leads to another which is why IQ's are always growing on these people who seek knowledge and understanding in Love.. Any religion that would want you to sit blindly and take someones word for the truth is a false one. Whether it is disguised as Christianity or other. True christianity wants you to learn with an open mind on How GReat Thou art and his magnificent world he created here before man so unkindly condemned it to the Hell it is now by ignorance and hate Great example. April 6th 1945. Man discovers another use for nucleur power. What could be used as a cheap source of energy in a productive manner was made to be a bomb to be dropped on Japan. Men of Brilliance and love seek to be helpful. Men of ingnorance and hate seek to dominate and kill.

Answer 4

I'm not a scientist, so I can't really give an informed answer. But I will say that I've been skeptical and had trouble believing all my life - even when I was trying to believe, it was like forcing myself. The little voice at the back of my mind yelling "Bullshit!" never DID go away.

I think some personality types may be more predisposed to religious belief, but I believe most of it has to do with the culture in which you were raised.

Answer 5

You ask an intriguing question, however, from the quotation you included, I don't see any evidence that religious preference can be determined by the VMPC. I do find it interesting, however, that the last sentence in the section you quoted could be used as a basis to promote belief systems or to denigrate them.
Just pondering.....

Answer 6

It certainly appears to be able to determine the depth of such beliefs attainable by the owner of the brain--I'm still up in the air about any particular link between organic make-up of the brain and the ability to believe/disbelieve, etc....

Answer 7

No usually your up bringing determines your religious beliefs. Then when a persons matures and lives on their own they can change beliefs according to their social beliefs. So religion like other things are determined by your surroundings.

Answer 8

Um... If it's not the brain that determines religious belief's, then what would it be? Your foot?

I understand what the article is saying, but really it comes down to the brain for everything you believe, know, think, feel and otherwise sense.

Answer 9

i think it's largely a geographic and demographic thing. if a baby is born into a christian family, they'll be brought up christian, just as if a baby is born into a muslim family, they'll be brought up muslim. it's only when people are exposed to other beliefs and/or something happens that causes them to question the beliefs with which they have been brought up, that there is this perceived change.

Answer 10

All intellectual activity is centered in the brain, so as far as that goes, religion is in the brain. If you're wondering if one physical/chemical brain make-up pre-determines one's religious orientation, then I think you're barking up the wrong tree.

Answer 11

its like any belief, you believe in what has been ingraved in your head, until your smart enough to make your own determination on what you think is true, false, ect.. as far as religion goes, why do u think children are brought into it so fast, at a young age you are schooled on it, and pushed to live the way your denomination tells you to, until you grow up, mature and believe what you want...