I listened to a recent NPR story on Dr. David Eagleman, author of "Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain" (Pantheon, 2011). In addition to discussing the way in which the brain makes contracts with itself, Dr. Eagleman also expounds on how the brain handles time as well as the hypothesis that God is nothing more than a creation of our brains as they try to make sense of the world. Eagleman calls himself a "possibilian," meaning one who believes every possible hypothesis ought to be given equal weight in undergoing scientific examination, no matter how far-fetched it sounds. Oddly enough, the hypothesis that God exists does not appear to qualify. I invite you to read the transcript here, especially this section on God and the brain, a little more than halfway down the webpage.
This is not at all my first encounter with this question. A classmate of mine in graduate school currently studies Islam, Neuroscience, and the Philosophy of Mind, positing this same hypothesis as it relates to the religion of Islam. In some sense, when we talk of Christianity, we are discussing beliefs and the origin of those beliefs.
What do you think? Are beliefs merely the result of neural firings in the brain? How can we be sure either way? Are we able to reconcile neuroscience with 'truth' - with what we know to be true and beliefs that seem to be more than just a "lightening storm" (to use Eagleman's description of neural firings)? What do you think of Dr. Eagleman's hypothesis?
