Conservative emotional avoidance
Do liberals and conservatives really see the world differently? Maybe it’s more like they feel it differently. Recent research (e.g., Tomkins 1995) has suggested that […]
When being unfalsifiable is a good thing
Common knowledge says that you believe what you’re taught, or what your gut tells you is right, or – better yet – what the facts […]
Is atheism linked to intelligence?
Not so long ago experts predicted the imminent collapse of religion in modern western culture. Religion – often synonymous in these discussions with superstition, magic, […]
Self-transcendence enhanced by removal of portions of the parietal-occipital cortex
For many years, research has pointed to specific neural pathways as the presumed locus of spiritual thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Famously, studies have shown similar […]
Wallace’s Contemplative Science
Buddhist scholar, B. Alan Wallace’s Contemplative Science: Where Buddhism and Neuroscience Converge (Columbia University Press, 2007) is an attractive read for anyone interested in neuroscience, […]
Toward an anatomy of religiosity
While media excitement about the supposed discovery of a single “God module” in the brain has rightly followed scientific consensus and cooled off considerably, the […]
V.V. Raman’s Truth and Tension in Science and Religion
Professor emeritus Raman deals with the title theme in 10 chapters: Introduction, On science and religion, Epistemological aspects, Explanatory dimensions, Belief systems and God, Spiritual […]
The neural basis of belief
Even the most sympathetic observer has to admit that religious beliefs are often very strange. Indeed, while nearly all agree that Santa Claus does not […]
The Biocentric Universe
A recent article by Robert Lanza and Bob Berman suggests that rather than being the most complex results of essentially physical processes, life, and particularly […]
Why the big feud between religion and evolution, anyway?
This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, the bushy-bearded biologist known for being the first to articulate the theory of […]