The Science of Religion

“Faith-based” has entered the American lexicon. Religion occurs in every human culture. But a gene for religiosity, and a brain region that seems to cause religious experience pose some provocative questions.

Scientists have measured the heritability of the religious impulse, probed the seat of religious experience in the brain, and argued that religion is a product of evolution. Some proclaim that science will soon explain religion — away.

But other voices argue eloquently that those who seek to “de-religionize” the world will end up dehumanizing it. As scientists explore the biology of spirituality, religious experience still presses its claim “from the inside.”