Belief in Science? On the Neuroscience of Religion

This afterword demonstrates how the return of religion to public life has had an impact on science. Faith itself has become an object of physiological study, with researchers deploying brain scans to identify a “God spot,” the supposed seat of a wired-in human spirituality. The afterword then considers the growing field of “neurotheology.” Rather than asking whether God exists and contemplating His divine nature, neurotheology seeks to ascertain whether religious experience is a normal product of brain function or the result of neural pathology. The reality has, however, not lived up to the hype. Far from overcoming theological stalemate, neurotheology has merely refought old battles on new terrain. Both believers and skeptics have been able to draw on neuroscientific results to shore up their positions, and debates have returned as vigorous and apparently intractable as before. In fact, rather than being a refuge from polemic, neurotheology provides evidence that debate over theological questions might not admit final resolution. Whatever its claims, neurotheology's most important lesson might be that people are better advised to respect religious differences than to try to overcome them.