God vs. Science Argument Already Pre-Programmed into Our Brains

By Alison Lesley --
15 Jun 2016 --

A new scientific study points out that our brains are already wired to debate between religion and science.

One of the oldest debates in the history of mankind has always taken place between those who believe in God and those who believe in Science. Now, adding more interest to the debate is a new study, which indicates that the origin of this argument has a lot to do with the structure of the human brain.

God vs. Science Argument Already Pre-Programmed into Our Brains.[/tweetthis]

Faith and Scientific Evidence have often clashed with each other in an attempt to explain the natural world and how it functions. It’s a raging battle that has been going on for centuries. Its latest iteration can be seen in the form of a debate between creationism and evolution.

However, research carried out by researchers at Babson College Case and Western Reserve University have provided an interesting new twist. According to the observations of the researchers, people who believe in the existence of a higher being or supernatural power tend to suppress the areas of the brain that are required for analytical thinking. Instead, they function primarily with their empathetic network.

Analytical thinkers, on the other hand, tend do the exact opposite. According to Tony Jack, the person responsible for leading the research, the idea of faith from an analytical perspective might seem absurd. However, based on what the research has pointed out in terms of brain responses, the idea of faith is what activates the empathetic network. What this means is that, when analytical and critical thinking functions are pushed back, the average human is able to achieve a higher level of emotional and social insight.

Jack serves at the Case Western Reserve as an associate professor of philosophy. He is also the research director of the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence, the body responsible for facilitating the research.

Another key person involved in the research, a Mr. Richard Boyatzis, who teaches organizational behavior at Case Western Reserve, stated that there was plenty of research based evidence earlier in Cognitive Psychology indicating that people with faith tend to be less intelligent. However, the new study showed that people with faith were more likely to be empathetic and prosocial, even though they were less rational.

The study had observed people through a total of eight experiments and found that empathetic people were also most likely to be religious.

God is bad for you. Really. Science says so. PLOS ONE: Why Do You Believe in God? https://t.co/fVQ6DrOEoV
— Oscar Wandel (@OscarWandel) March 27, 2016

The findings also correlated with an earlier study that showed women to be more religious than men. This is probably because women have a tendency to show higher levels of empathy than men.

The study also found that atheists showed signs of psychopathy, in the sense that they lacked empathy when compared to people with faith.

The study has been published on PLOS ONE, an online journal. Other researchers involved in the study were Scott Taylor and Jared Friedman. The former is an associate professor who teaches organizational behavior at Babson College, while the latter is a research assistant in Philosophy and Cognitive Science at the Case Western Reserve.