Reddit mentions of Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief

First, read the wiki on Glossollaia that TheRedTeam posted. Then, if you're still interested, check out one or both of these books: Why We Believe What We Believe and Why God Won't Go Away. Both are written by a neurologist and deal with the neurology of religious belief. They don't go far enough in debunking woo and pseudoscience, but they do give a pretty detailed explanation of what is physically happening in the brain when people experience what they report as 'spiritual experience'. Both are definitely worth a read.

Check out this book it's a good read:

http://www.amazon.com/Why-God-Wont-Go-Away/dp/0345440331

Interesting brain activity happens when people pray especially in the area that helps us distinguish ourselves from our environment.

Yes, some interesting stuff happens in the brain when we have a spiritual experience or are in a part of group worship, or when we pray.

The article cites Andrew Newberg. He's written many books on the subject, and this is where your argument against your friend comes from - by actually looking at who is making the claim, and what they're actually saying. I'm quoting from a short review found on amazon.co.uk (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-God-Wont-Go-away/dp/0345440331/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Why+God+Won%27t+Go+Away%3A+Brain+Science&qid=1564099866&s=books&sr=1-1)

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\>>Researchers Newberg and D'Aquili used high-tech imaging devices to peer into the brains of meditating Buddhists and Franciscan nuns. As the data and brain photographs flowed in, the researchers began to find solid evidence that the mystical experiences of the subjects "were not the result of some fabrication, or simple wishful thinking, but were associated instead with a series of observable neurological events,"

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If this is proof of "God", then this should only be happening in those who are believing in the correct one. It certainly shouldn't happen in both Buddishits *and* a group of Catholics (as the Franciscan nuns apparently are) if the origin is some supernatural being, because they don't believe in the same supernatural beings. Their beliefs are, from what I understand, pretty much mutually exclusive.

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To put this in simpler terms: Your friend has essentially bought a computer, opened the CD/DVD drive, noticed the size of the hole in the drive tray fits cups from his local fast food joint perfectly, and has decided that this is proof of some link between the computer maker and the fast food restaurant.... Even though the fast food joint acrros the road from that one also has cups that fit.

I have to upvote you because I think it would really help her. However, given that she is initially refusing to go to counseling with him... that she would approach that book and read with with even the smallest open mind is a very, very remote possibility.


An easier book to read might be Why God Won't Go Away which has quite a bit of detail on the inner workings of the brain, and then relates that to spiritual experiences. It takes a very neutral view. At the very least it will introduce doubt into the mind of the most staunch atheist or theist (a 1 or 7 on Dawkins' scale.) It's a very good read, if a little heavy on the physiology of the brain in the first few chapters. It could help her understand at least a little of the other side, even if she doesn't agree with it - I came from the complete inverse and it helped me in the same way.