Neurotheology, Part I: Christian Brains are Defective

Okay folks, time to strap on your thinking caps (pun intended). This post is more along the lines of philosophy and logic and will require patience to absorb. It is not light reading but should probably be understood by Christians-at-large for their own good. The reason it should be understood is because the "uber-intelligent" and "highly educated academic" cliche think their intellect is vastly superior to yours. Why does this matter? It matters because they are demeaning you by assuming you will stay ignorant to the tripe that some of them are espousing in the halls of elitist academia. They will then try and pass off their tripe as science to institutions like the government and medical establishment thereby getting taxpayer funding. They will then also get the chance to pass some of their tripe into law (think abortion) and manage to institutionalize illogical nonsense through legal means like I am about to explain to you. 

They will have the audacity to do this while categorizing you as mentally deficient as a religious person and making religions like Christianity into a clinical neurological/psychological disorder. All the while they give a green light to horrid sins like abortion and deviant sexual behavior. Remember folks, many "educated" people will tell you that a child in-utero isn't even human. If they can get your tax money to fund abortions, it will just be a matter of time before they will use your own tax money to find you incompetent or mentally deficient for what you believe.

I guess I should start this article by asking the reader if they have ever heard of Neurotheology?  My guess is that outside of a few Christians in the medical field, not many will have heard of it. The only reason I showed even a passing interest in it is because the prefix neuro- was followed by the word theology. So, I sharpened my pencil and did some homework to educate myself. I guess the next questions that should be asked are: Why should I care what Neurotheology is? –and- How does Neurotheology affect me? Read on folks and be surprised, slightly filled with dread and unease as we slide down the rabbit hole.

Neurotheology was a term coined/used by Dr. Andrew Newberg, Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies and an Associate Professor of Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. It is a term used by Dr. Andrew Newberg to describe the relationship between the brain and religious experience. The scientific community is claiming that certain areas of our brain are responsible for having posited the idea that a god could exist. I imagine then that if this portion of the brain could be killed off, the concept of a god could be too. Interesting in a novel kind of way but nothing really nutty going on here. Just a man that might have a religious background and possible belief in God trying to bridge the gap between his belief and his work. No biggie I guess.

Doing a little bit more internet searching I go to the bastion of academic credibility Wikipedia (*gag*) Wiki defines Neurotheology (also known as spiritual neuroscience) as an attempt to explain religious experience and behavior in neuro-scientific terms. It is the study of correlations of physical neural phenomena with subjective experiences of spirituality and hypotheses to explain these phenomena. In other words spiritual experiences unique to each individual person. Furthermore, it says that these experiences are the sum product of neurological and evolutionary actions. In layman's terms, your belief in God is nothing more than atoms zipping around, electrons jumping orbits and chemical reactions (yawn). This means that not only are they subjective to each individual, our religious experiences are the product of our imaginations, which being the product of our brains…are the sum product of evolutionary science. 

In short, it is predominantly godless scientists attempting to explain away God as an evolutionary figment of human imagination…nothing more. The science geeks even have a name for the God specific portion of the brain. Scientists refer to the portion of the mind that conjures up God from nothing as the (drum roll please....) “God Center”. How breathtakingly original of them. Geneticists have a genetic variation on this theme that attempt to convince us that this “God Center” goes down to the genetic level and have affectionately named the associated gene the (second drum roll and high hat please...) “God Gene”. Not much room for originality after all that boring scientific method, is there?

Frankly, I don’t view anything wrong with this avenue of inquiry. Obviously there are portions of the brain engaged when dealing with God. God made us to think and have a relationship with Him. It should not surprise anyone that studies of a person's brain that is praying would show that it is the same brain center that is engaged when a person speaks or talks with another person. The only people this seemed to surprise were godless researchers. The truth is…if scientists wish to foolishly search for the reason mankind has fabricated the existence of God…have at it. Their entire presupposition is flawed so their end results can only be flawed too. That’s fine, people are allowed to study and question things. Whatever. I honestly believe questions and doubts from skeptics inevitably strengthen the Christian faith in the end because God is indeed real and will not be mocked. Under the microscope of academic inquiry, Scriptures and God generally have fared quite well as opposed to other worldviews contrary to what a militant or rabid atheist will tout.

My problem is not in the honest inquiry but rather in the misuse and misinterpretation of the retrieved data. The same evidence that can often be used to show God’s existence such as a genetic fingerprint in man that points to intentional or intellectual design can also be used to show a direct correlation to demonic evolutionary theory to show just the opposite. Often these atheistic “proofs” can be used to assume more than the prima facie evidence warrants. Enter militant atheism. Specifically militant atheist Daniel Dennett in his book Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. It is a book in which he discusses the “probability” that a gene called VMAT2 may fully account for religious belief...therefore the existence of God (or lack thereof). What’s more is Dean Hamer a neurobiologist, speculated in his book The God Gene that he had found this exact type of gene that would be responsible for such a role.

Ironically, the VMAT2 gene is polymorphic in human beings, meaning that there are different mutations of it in different people. The VMAT2 gene variants are ideally positioned therefore (in atheistic scientist’s eyes) to account for differences in people's cognitive responses to the same religious stimuli. Obviously, this would account for why some are so "weak-minded” and easily duped by "superstitious nonsense” and why some "more evolved" intelligent types like our beloved scientists are too smart (or too evolved) for all of these god fairy tales.

You should already see where this is going folks...and it should bother you.

It therefore can then be deduced that those with this gene variant could conceivably be deemed “deficient” if they have this variant. Considering we live in a godless society run by an institutionalized godless government and society is manipulated/coerced by many godless education centers…well…figure it out people. Does eugenics ring any bells with people? Think Adolf Hitler and Margaret Sanger. In the next post I will explain why the entire “science” involved in this argument becomes irrelevant because of horribly flawed logic and reasoning. 

Proverbs 21:30 ~ There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord.

1 Corinthians 3:19 ~ "For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”

God will not be mocked and I will show why in the next post.

[Concluded in Part II]