Science and religion have been at loggerheads for centuries. Modern science has been astoundingly successful at discovering useful truths about the physical world. Religion, which also makes truth claims, has been scrambling to catch up, or at least keep from being completely discredited. But recent scientific work is beginning to suggest that the relationship between religion and science may be coming in for a new twist. Modern neuroscience is discovering that religious belief is more than simply an elaborate fantasy, invented by the unscrupulous to comfort the gullible. Our brains appear to be hardwired to ask questions and seek answers about ultimate meaning. Several things point to this.

First, brain-imaging studies show that the experience of meditation is a distinct neurological event. The recent study Hardwired to Connect cites evidence that we are hardwired to seek answers to non-scientific questions such as why are we here? What is the purpose and meaning of life? In a very real sense, it appears that we can’t help asking these questions.

Neuroscientists Eugene d’Aquili and Andrew B. Newberg have used brain imaging to study individuals involved in spiritual practices such as contemplative prayer and meditation. During such states, they have found an increase in activity in a number of frontal brain regions, including the prefrontal cortex.

They report that these...

experiences are based in observable functions of the brain. The neurological roots of these experiences would render them as convincingly real as any other of the brain’s perceptions. In this sense... they are reporting genuine, neurobiological events.

HTC 32. Citing Andrew B. Newberg and Eugene d’Aquili, Why God Won’t Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief (New York: Ballantine Books, 2001): 143.

A skeptic might claim that this neurological evidence actually proves that religion is literally, “all in the mind” since we can reduce the religious experience to a set of brain waves. Drs. Newberg and d’Aquili respond to this interpretation by observing that encountering freshly baked apple pie will also show up on the brain scan. Each of the senses of smell, taste and vision, registers distinct responses to the apple pie, and these responses can be measured and observed. This fact does not prove that the apple is “all in the mind.”

Second, the children of non-religious parents still choose to seek religion. According to the authors of Hardwired to Connect, “Studies reveal that children whose parents have low levels of religiosity report levels of personal religiosity quite similar to those of other children-- additional evidence to support the thesis that the need in young people to connect to ultimate meaning and to the transcendent is not merely the result of social conditioning, but is instead an intrinsic aspect of the human experience.”

(pg. 32, citing Lisa Miller, et.al., “Religiosity and substance use in children of opiate addicts,” Journal of Substance Abuse 13 (2001): 323-336.)

If religious belief were nothing more than a very successful meme (a self-replicating, self-protecting concept or institution), it is hard to understand how children would reach beyond their primary instructors, their parents, and search for transcendent meaning on their own. Something propels these young people. Researchers now speculate that we humans have a deeply seated need, perhaps even a biological need, for meaning in our lives.

Finally, there is now compelling evidence that religiosity and spirituality significantly influence well-being. For adolescents, religious observance is correlated with a reduced likelihood of injury, both intentional and unintentional. Religious teens are less likely to engage in dangerous behaviors such as indulge in addictive substances, engage in criminal activity or drive without a seat belt. Religious teens are more likely to volunteer in the community, and participate in sports or student government.

Personal devotion, defined as a person’s sense of participation in a direct personal relationship with the Divine, also appears to be beneficial. “Personal devotion among adolescents is associated with reduced risk-taking behavior. It is also associated with more effectively resolving feelings of loneliness, greater regard for self and others, and a stronger sense that life has meaning and purpose.” (31)

Although Hardwired to Connect is particularly focused on teens and young people, other authors have made similar findings about adults. Regular attendance at religious worship provides a protection against any number of social and physical ills. Life expectancy at age 20 is significantly correlated with church attendance. Religious worship seems to reduce the probability of divorce, of depression, and suicide. Religious worship seems to make men better fathers.

St. Augustine famously said, “you have made us for thyself, O God, and our hearts are restless, until they rest in thee.” Perhaps science can reinterpret this prayer as a hypothesis: suppose it is true that our hearts are restless until they rest in God. What kinds of evidence would be consistent with the God hypothesis? How might we distinguish St. Augustine’s hypothesis from the competing claim that the concept of God is merely a human invention, designed to make us feel good? Now some neurological and sociological evidence is at least as consistent with the God hypothesis as with the hypothesis that religion is pure invention.

If St. Augustine’s hypothesis is correct, then we ignore religion at our peril. We are hardwired to connect with the Divine and we are better off admitting it than denying it.