New study proves that people who have faith in religion suppresses the analytical portions of the brain. Before you close this story, hear me out.
The dictionary definition of faith is “strong belief and trust in someone or something.” For people that have a lot of faith, this was bound to affect the brain one way or another. While religious people suppress the analytical side, they do the opposite when thinking about the physical world. Many religious people are more empathetic than they are analytical. That empathetic, emotional part of the brain is activated in people that pray and/or meditate often.
These findings are part of an ongoing effort to study the psychological mechanisms of religiosity. This journal publication hypothesized that the analytical portions and the social portions of the brain may be in competition with each other.
Earlier research used fMRI (function MRI machines) to establish the fact that we have an analytical side and a social side in our brain. A healthy brain uses one side more than the other. These findings can explain why beliefs in the supernatural have been found throughout the history of the human race. This also explains how extremism comes about if one network is suppressing the other.
Scientists are even discovering that the belief in religion may have been part of our evolution. Professor Bruce Hood, a psychologist at Bristol University, believes religion is similar to children’s belief in imaginary friends. Children have a naturally intuitive way of reasoning which leads to getting involved with religion. These beliefs linger even as we develop our reasoning skills; those beliefs tend to overlap. This phenomenon is how adults end up religious.
Michael Persinger of Laurentian University, Ontario has used powerful magnetic fields to induce religious visions in people.
Hopefully, these studies will lead to a better understanding of the science vs. religion debate and find a balance between the two.
Featured image by ideacreamanuela ideacreamanuela via flickr.com, available under Creative Commons 2.0 license.
