How to Refute the ‘God Spot’ Hypothesis
Is religious faith due to brain wiring? If so, then so is materialism.
Evolutionary scientists love to scientifically analyze religion. They don’t realize what they do to themselves when they try to relegate religion to an evolutionary artifact of brain development.
The latest example from Rice University via Phys.org is slightly different. Titled, “Can religion be explained by brain wiring?“, the article shows what researchers from Rice found when they queried people about the hypothesis of a ‘God spot’ in the brain that explains religion. Most people said no.
Is there a “God spot” in the brain that determines whether you’re hardwired to be religious? New research from Rice University finds that nonbelievers are more likely than the faithful to think that’s true.
Naturally, religious people would want their faith to be counted as real, not a genetic artifact. Nonreligious people might warm up to the idea that religious people have weird brains wired for religion.
The results revealed that only about 15 percent of U.S. adults think brain wiring can explain differences in religiosity, with 3.5 percent of these individuals strongly agreeing with this claim. Evangelical Protestants (about 32 percent) and Jews (about 36 percent) were the most likely of any religious group to strongly disagree that the way the brain is configured can explain faith.
Logic Malfunction
What nobody in the article seems to realize is that the argument works both ways. If there is a ‘God spot’ in the brain that explains religion, there could be a ‘Darwin spot’ that explains atheism. Or, materialism could be due to a malfunctioning ‘God spot’ in the brains of nonbelievers. Who is to say that absence of religiosity is better? It could be a genetic defect.
This refutation actually works even more strongly against atheism. The ‘God spot’ hypothesis represents a return to genetic determinism, which should be unpalatable to materialists as well (28 Oct 2018). If genetic determinism were true, it would rob scientists of their own free will. Anything they write about evolution would be genetically determined. If that were the case, then evolutionary theory itself is a result of genetic wiring, thereby refuting itself and losing all its appeals to scientific authority.
Since genetic determinism undermines free will for everyone, all thinking people must reject it. Thoughts are not material. To even discuss evolution, one must first dismiss materialism and genetic determinism. Then we can talk about brains and things, and caroling and kings.
Hark! The herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled.
Joyful all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With th’ angelic hosts proclaim,
Christ is born in Bethlehem.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King!
—Charles Wesley
Comments
This article hits the spot.
Dear David,
Since atheism is in the extreme minority (at least in this country), it would be the height of arrogance to assume that they are the ones who are ‘wired right.’ I appreciated the contrast of spiritual and atheistic ‘deformity’ toward the end of the article. A Merry Christmas to all at CEH, Happy New Year filled with all God’s blessings. Oo! My ‘God Spot’ just tingled! 🙂
John
I know many people who were once outspoken, belligerent atheists — but then they had an experience with God or took a look closer at the hard facts and then switched sides and now zealosly proclaim the goodness and reality of God! What happened to them? Was their brain circuitry re-wired? What nonsense! As Sir Isaac Newton put it (paraphrased): “Anyone who half way thinks, doesn’t believe in God . . . but those who think things all the way through to the end, must believe in God.”