Neurological Fine-Tuning

Mackensie

Link to the article referenced in post: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190529-do-humans-have-a-religion-instinct

I found an interesting study about the idea that there is a neurological response to contemplating God. Based on the article, here is my regimentation of an argument that the article poses:

1. If the goal of religion is to understand, then the infinite God needed to provide methods of enlightenment for our finite human minds to achieve the goal.
2. If the infinite God needed to provide methods of enlightenment for our finite human minds, then we must have been created to be receptive to understanding.
3. If the goal of religion is to understand, then we must have been created to be receptive to understanding. (1,2 HS)

Dr. Andrew Newberg is quoted in the article saying “If you contemplate God long enough…something surprising happens in the brain. Neural functioning begins to change. Different circuits become activated, while others become deactivated. New dendrites are formed, new synaptic connections are made, and the brain becomes more sensitive to subtle realms of experience. Perceptions alter, beliefs begin to change, and if God has meaning for you, then God becomes neurologically real.”
o Some of these changes include less activity in the parietal and frontal lobes, each responsible for maintaining the sense of self and independent operation respectively.

I have heard religion described as ‘God will meet you where you are at’ or ‘at the end of yourself is the beginning of God.’ And while these might seem like inadequate and incomplete descriptions of God, there are some merit to them. If God is infinite, omni-present, omnipotent, and omniscient, then our finite and limited minds cannot grasp God in all of His majesty. So, measures need to be taken in order for humans to understand. In this way, God neurologically fine-tuned (to borrow Robin Collin’s term) our brains to be receptive of Him— not only because He is our Creator, but because designing humans in this way increases understanding. Jesus descended to Earth, thus humbling and lowering Himself, in order to save, but also to teach. He is frequently called Rabbi and teaches in parables to help increase understanding. While this could be viewed as diluting the perfection that is God, it could also be seen as acting upon the predisposed receptivity to God in order to bring the Kingdom to more people. This could not be achieved without a specific goal in mind, understanding, and steps to ensure the completion of the goal, ‘neurological fine-tuning.’

VagabondSpectre

Nope. It's more like this:

Brains evolved to make useful anticipations, and so we're hard wired to make connections between disparate stimulus that correlates (so we can make inferences from the model of the world that we build).

As a result, we're inherently superstitious. If we see someone do a certain dance, and then lightning strikes shortly after, we're downright liable to assume that the dance caused the lightning bolt. To make even more sense of things, we assume that there is some human-like agency behind the lightning bolt to further explain the supposed mechanism.

Any significant beliefs that we hold can lead to the formation of new neural pathways because they are held more at the forefront when we appraise new stimulus (in search of those pesky correlations). In other-words, if you're terrified of witchcraft, you're more likely to go around finding circumstantial evidence supporting that belief. Before long, magic becomes so integrated into your worldview and understanding that you will start ignoring rational evidence in favor of preserving existing dogma. It can even go to the point of creating over-fancy explanations and arguments from evidence that is wholly unrelated to begin with...

8livesleft

I agree with VagabondSpectre.

I was baptised and raised as a Catholic and so, formed God-connections with unrelated phenomena all the time. There was god in all the gaps.

But, as I had the chance to live independently from my family (my main religious support group), I stopped inserting god into things and eventually started to see things as either coincidental or as having other natural reasons behind them.

So, the reverse happened to me. All or most of my prior god or supernatural driven neurological connections have disappeared and now, I've developed the habit of trying to find the underlying natural reasons for why things are the way they are.

But, I see the power of God in the Gaps. It's such an easy and efficient method to explain things. That's why it's still so attractive to many people.

Larissa

1. If the goal of religion is to understand, then the infinite God needed to provide methods of enlightenment for our finite human minds to achieve the goal.
2. If the infinite God needed to provide methods of enlightenment for our finite human minds, then we must have been created to be receptive to understanding.
3. If the goal of religion is to understand, then we must have been created to be receptive to understanding. (1,2 HS) — Mackensie

While I can see how "neurological fine-tuning" would make sense as far as a God-given ability to see his revelation (a la sensus devinitatus), I think you would also have to consider how this ability of the brain would still hold if God did not exist. As @VagabondSpectre mentioned above, we would still have the biological tendencies that would allow for "neurological fine-tuning". My counter-argument is as follows:
1. If there is no God that created us purposefully, then all that explains our existence, as we are, is natural selection.
2. If natural selection means that only those creatures that have the abilities and properties necessary and beneficial for survival and reproduction will survive, then the ability of the brain to create connections that help with survival is a trait beneficial to those who have it.
2a. The inability of the brain to adjust leads to lack of adaptability, which is detrimental to survival.
2b. In the case of religion, believing in a common God with others has been shown to improve health
as well as fosters a community, both of which are beneficial to survival.
2c. This trait will increase in populations as time goes on as surviving humans will live to pass it on
while non-trait-having humans will not.
3. Therefore, if God does not exist, the ability of the brain to rewire itself is not surprising, and can be used to reinforce a belief in a non-existent God.

As such, I don't see much use in this argument as far as trying to convince nonbelievers, although you never did claim that purpose for this. I also think this phenomenon call be attributed in part to apophenia, the human bias to perceive patterns in unrelated events. A thing I do want to mention, though, is that there was a recent study that showed that people who are better at implicit pattern recognition were more likely to hold stronger beliefs in God. There are a few different ways to interpret this idea respective to these other ideas and concepts, but even so, I don't think the idea of neurological fine-tuning adds to evidence for theism.

Neurological Fine-Tuning

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