In the year 1844, long before the establishment of neuroscience as a separate field of investigation and study, Orson Flower wrote, “This science shows … that a large section of the brain is set apart exclusively for the exercise of the moral and religious feeling.” Now with the introduction of the most sophisticated imaging machines and new evolutionary insights into the brain organization, neuroscientists are confident of mapping, what they metaphorically call, the ‘God Spot’ in the brain. This ancient prediction has been corroborated recently by the renowned exponent of the Neuroreligion, Andrew Newberg: “One cannot understand religion without understanding the mind and brain and that one cannot understand the mind and brain without understanding religion.”

Andrew Newberg, Eugene D’Aquili, Victor Turner and Colwyn Tevarthen are the main proponents of a different theory of religious experience. They argue that the potency to transcend the material existence of this world to the immateriality of the mystical experience is a built-in mechanism of the human brain which has evolved. “After years of scientific study, and careful consideration of our results, Gene and I … saw evidence of a neurological process that has evolved to allow us humans to transcend material existence and acknowledge and connect with a deeper, more spiritual part of ourselves perceived of as an absolute, universal reality that connects us to all that is.” The proponents of this theory further try to show this by demonstrating that there is a biological drive to make myths and rituals, which will lead to transcendental experiences. They do this by dividing the brain into six operators of which the holistic operator is the one intimately related to the religious, transcendental experiences. Situated at the right hemisphere of the brain, this holistic operator helps explain the mystical experiences which transcend temporal and spatial limitations.

According to ‘Neuroreligion/Neurotheology’, our spiritual cognition, perceptions, sensation and behaviours are the manifestations of inherited impulses generated from the neural connections. Spiritual experiences are not just the result of contact with the divine, but rather the effects of the electrochemical elements interpreted by our brain. Religious practices act back upon the brain’s frontal lobes to inspire    optimism and creativity. To evoke religious experience and the experience of the mystical, certain brain circuits must be interrupted; viz., 1. Activity in Amygdala, which monitors the environment for threats and registers fear; 2. Parietal Lobe circuits, which orients us in space and mark the sharp distinction between self and world; 3. Frontal and temporal lobe circuits which mark the time and generate the self-awareness. In this condition, what we think of as higher functions of the selfhood appear briefly to ‘drop out’, ‘dissolve’ or ‘deleted’ from consciousness. Conversely, atheism too may be considered as partly consequent of the neurological make up of the person.

The neuropsychology underlying both aesthetics and religious experience is very much the same. The evidence is suggestive that positive aesthetics represents the beginning of the Aesthetic-Religious Continuum along which various spiritual and mystical experiences are placed, culminating in either the experience of God or of the Buddhist void. This explains the nature mysticism of the saints or the cosmic spirituality of the scientists. Neurotheology is a kind of “metatheology”—a biologically based approach to theology that underlies the world’s various religions.

Critically analyzing “neurotheology”, it could be noted that the brain really does not cause these experiences, rather only perceives a spiritual reality.  To suggest that brain is the only source of our experiences would be reductionist, ignoring the influence of environment, will, grace, etc. Neurotheology also confuses spiritual experiences with religion. It focuses upon a narrow spectrum of religious life, especially ritual, myth, and mystical experience. The role of interpersonal relationships in religion or individual spiritual growth through time is ignored in neurotheology. At this point, we cannot use neuroscience to prove or disprove God’s existence. But, we can understand how God affects us. We can use science to determine the effect of God on our brain and body. Science can tell us how God—as an image, feeling, thought, or fact—is interpreted, reacted to, and turned into a perception that is meaningful and real.

Augustine Pamplany, CST,  is the Founder-Director of the Institute of Science and Religion, Cochin, India. He holds Ph.D in Philosophy of Science from International University, Colombo, and, in Bioethics from Dublin City University, Ireland. He is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Omega – Indian Journal of Science and Religion. He is a recipient of various awards including the Science-Religion Course Award from the Centre for Theology and Natural Sciences, Berkeley; Global Perspectives on Science and Spirituality Award from the Interdisciplinary University, Paris; Erasmus Mundus Fellowship from Leuven, Belgium; Radboud University, The Netherlands; and the University of Padua, Italy. He is a member of UNESCO forum teachers in Bioethics. He has presented papers in many international conferences on science and religion in India and abroad.