Why religion causes brain damage

The Placebo Effect

For when someone starts talking about miraculous cures  . . . .

Why religion causes brain damage.

The Anticipation of Reward

4 Minutes. Watch to the end for the punchline. . . .

Note to the rationality-challenged . . .

A quick reminder to any of the great tribe of the 'rationality-challenged' who happen to light upon this blog:-

What goes on inside your head is only evidence for what goes on inside your head.

Religion - the crux . . .

From Andy Thomson's talk: "Why we believe in God (s)."

Why we believe in God(s)

An excellent talk by psychiatrist Dr. Andy Thomson

"We are risen apes- not fallen angels."

"If you understand the psychology of a Big Mac meal you understand the psychology  of religion."

"Half of all 4 year-olds have imaginary friends."

"We are on the threshold of a comprehensive cognitive neuroscience of religious belief."

Faith requires self-delusion

The following is an extract from: "Why We Believe in god(s): A Concise Guide to the Science Of Faith." The author is psychiatrist J. Anderson Thomson, JR., MD.

“The human ability for self-deception is crucial to religious belief. If many believers could see their own minds more clearly, they would see that self-deception plays a role in their acceptance of faith.

Maybe there are ONLY atheists in foxholes. If the faithful truly and fully believe in a protective deity, why would they dive into a foxhole to protect themselves from the bullets whizzing by? A part of their brains knows damn well that if they do not protect themselves, the bullets will hardly discriminate between those who claim faith and those who reject it. They may say and think they believe, but their instinctive actions expose the lie.

Why do the faithful buy health insurance? House insurance? Most people live their lives as if there is no god. We stop at red lights, we put our children in car seats, and we act responsibly to protect our safety and the safely of those we love.

If a person is religious, he is an atheist in relation to others’ gods and the gods of history. He also will almost invariably live as an atheist in relation to his own worshipped deity.

We expect others to live as atheists too. We want them to stop at red lights and not assume we drive under divine protection. We in the West have become so used to religious people NOT really, truly, and fully believing what they say they  believe that we are startled when, as on 9/11, we encounter people who really do believe their religion and put their beliefs into murderous practice.”

Don't pray for me

Religion shrinks the brain

A study by Amy Owen and colleagues at Duke University showed greater atrophy in the hippocampus in individuals who identify with specific religious groups as well as those with no religious affiliation. It is a surprising result, given that many prior studies have shown religion to have potentially beneficial effects on brain function, anxiety, and depression.

"The results showed significantly greater hippocampal atrophy in individuals reporting a life-changing religious experience. In addition, they found significantly greater hippocampal atrophy among born-again Protestants, Catholics, and those with no religious affiliation, compared with Protestants not identifying as born-again.

The authors offer the hypothesis that the greater hippocampal atrophy in selected religious groups might be related to stress. They argue that some individuals in the religious minority, or those who struggle with their beliefs, experience higher levels of stress. This causes a release of stress hormones that are known to depress the volume of the hippocampus over time. This might also explain the fact that both non-religious as well as some religious individuals have smaller hippocampal volumes."

Reported in Scientific American by Andrew Newberg.

Why we believe in gods

Why We Believe in God(s): A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith -- Dr. Andy Thomson from Kurt Volkan on Vimeo.

The Brain Creates Religion

Please note. Be patient, the above video takes about 30 secs to load.
For transcription see:-The Brain Creates Religion | Lionel Tiger | Big Think

The culpability of parents

Religion is a giant confidence trick played by parents on their children, or by other infected adults on those of an insecure or otherwise susceptible nature. It has to be like that. It is only with the immature, uncritical, or suggestible mind that a trick based on a preposterous fantasy would have any chance of success.

Brain juice.

Professor Lionel Tiger, a new face on the rationalist scene, delivers a laconic but very convincing summary of how the  workings of the human brain are involved in religion and eagerly 'consume' its effects.

The temporal lobes & god

Belief in "split" brain patients

In "split" brain patients the right-hand hemisphere believes in God, the left-hand doesn't. These findings have apparently raised hardly a ripple in the theological community despite raising the most challenging questions yet about the intrinsic nature of religious belief.

Godspots

Why do some well-educated, otherwise intelligent people persist in irrational religious beliefs?  Are some brains more  susceptible than others; do some people have 'god centres' or 'godspots' due perhaps to hyperactivity in  particular nodes of the brain?

Richard Dawkins thinks there might be something in this (he calls it the proximate explanation) but considers the Darwinian ultimate explanation to be of greater significance; i.e. what would be the natural selection pressure that favoured development of godcentres or godspots in the first place?

However, for those involved in the campaign to diminish the influence of religion in modern life surely the reverse is true. Proving the proximate explanation would be  of great importance. If it could be shown that religious people preach and act under the influence of  a particular form of neurological activity rather than divine revelation it would strike a powerful blow for atheism and humanism.