By MARTIN S PRIBBLE - MARTINSPRIBBLE.COM
Added: Sat, 23 Jul 2011 18:50:40 UTC

Religion is running scared from advances in science, particularly brain science such as neurology. Why? Because the brain is the final frontier in uncovering the reasons for belief in superstitions, religion and a higher power. After all, the brain is what interprets everything we see, read, think, do or believe, and also it determines how we react to these things. The brain is the start and the finish of our life experiences, the alpha and omega of any and every action we make in our lives.

But why should religions be scared of this? That’s pretty obvious, because if what I said above is the case, then the soul lives in the brain, as does God and the supernatural. If the brain is all there is, then there is no need to explain God, because he inhabits a part of our brain that interprets and controls our wants and needs to believe in a higher power, and that our lives are somehow pre-destined toward a particular end.

In a Huffington Post article I read, posted to Twitter by SamHarris.org by Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, the opening paragraph claims that neuroscience is “in”, as if to discredit neuroscience as just being a trend that will pass. He goes on to talk about an article by Patricia Churchland, a retired professor at UC San Diego, who has noticed that oxytocin is the active chemical in the formation of morality in the brain. He then attempts to deride this information by saying that “For one who is seeking guidance on how to live his or her life, there are no answers here.”

That is completely correct, Rabbi.

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TAGGED: RELIGION, SCIENCE