Researchers of the Case Western Reserve University and the Babson College They locate the origin of the crusade maintained for so long by religion and science in our brain structures.
No one can be alarmed if I say that religion is, and has been, a phenomenon of a universal nature. Why Among other things because, according to Chomsky’s approaches, children come into the world, in addition to having a bread under their arms, with the necessary neuronal inertia to assimilate the language of their parents and, in the same way, their religion.
On the other hand, if we turn to Bouchard’s research, we will find that genes also have a voice (and vote); and it is that, in studies carried out with twins and twins separated at birth, we can see how those born from the same egg (the twins) kept a way of thinking much more related than that found when comparing that of the twins. The most remarkable thing, do not miss us, is that If one twin grew up in a non-testa family and the other in a Catholic, both will end up manifesting the same: either faith, or the absence of it.
If we keep wondering why we will end up bumping with the wall of uncertainty. Yes, uncertainty has that ability to fill and make the pulses eloquent, according to several studies. It is this uncertainty that emptied, after the terrible attacks of 9/11, the portfolio of the Americans in favor of the sellers of the prophecies of Nostradamus.
Conflict and brain structures
According to the study carried out by researchers from the Case Western Reserve University and the Babson CollegeWe must start from the hypothesis that our brain has two opposite domains that are in constant tension.
If we resort to the previous studies carried out by Tony Jack, the leader of the research to which we refer, using images made with magnetic resonance it is possible to observe that the brain has a network of neurons with analytical function, which allows us to think critically, and a network of neurons with social functions, which allows us to empathize. The funny thing is that when we are presented with a physical problem or a moral dilemma, a healthy brain puts into operation the appropriate network, suppressing the other.
What does the brain have to say in the science-religion conflict?
Up to now, we will see what this new experiment has consisted of. The group of researchers, led by Tony Jack, examined the relationship between belief in a god (or universal spirit) and measures of analytical thinking and moral concerns, through eight experiments. The main result was as follows: analytical thinking hinders religious and spiritual beliefs.
How do they explain this? For arguing that people who believe in a supernatural or spiritual being, when analyzing the physical world, do so by suppressing the brain networks necessary for analytical thinking, replacing this network by the neural network with social functions. You now understand the meaning of the following words from Tony Jack:
Conflict would be avoided if each party performs its function, without interfering in the other’s mission
We will end by the hand of another investigator, Mr. Boyatzis, when he tries to answer the reason for such tension between both parties to the conflict:
This is so because neural networks suppress one another, creating two extremes. Recognizing the way our brains work may make us more reasonable and balanced in conversations between science and religion.
