Religion can have same effect on the brain as taking drugs, study finds

[trotsky]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/religious-effect-brain-drugs-mormon-utah-reward-centre-nucleus-accumbens-a7446301.html

Scientists at the University of Utah used MRI scans to monitor the brain activity of 19 devout Mormons while they carried out a variety of tasks including resting, watching a church announcement about financial reports, praying, reading quotations from non-Mormon religious leaders, and reading the Bible.

...

When studying the brain scans, the researchers noted certain brain regions consistently lit up when the participants reported spiritual thoughts.

These are the same parts of the brain which have lit up when participants in previous studies have listened to music, experienced feelings of love and taken recreational drugs.

This section of the brain, the nucleus accumbens, is known as the the brain's "reward centre" which controls addiction and plays a role in the release of dopamine – one of the chemicals which control a person's mood.

[HassleCat]

1. Maybe they can put it in pill form.

Then we won't have to listen to the nutty preachers.

[guillaumeb]

2. So 19 people is a large enough sample to prove..........what exactly?

Does it prove that faith makes one happy?

And if so, how is this a bad thing?

[trotsky]

3. I guess it proves that the results touched a nerve with some. n/t

[guillaumeb]

4. Are you in favor of people being happy? oem

[trotsky]

5. Not if what's making them happy is also hurting them.

Are you in favor of people doing whatever they want to make themselves happy?

[guillaumeb]

6. "Hurting them" is somewhat misleading unless you have proof that belief is harmful. eom

[trotsky]

7. You asked a general question, I gave a general answer.

Do you think it's ok if something that makes a person happy is also hurting them?

[stone space]

15. It certainly did with me.

I guess it proves that the results touched a nerve with some. n/t

Your OP has this atheist considering taking up religion, now.

[Act_of_Reparation]

18. Enough to prove it's worth looking into.

Since the research hasn't actually been published, to my knowledge, Anderson might have agreed to do the story hoping to drum up support for further investigation.

How is it a bad thing? Because one of the foundational precepts of the LDS religion is personal revelation from God. Many do not see this very basic neurochemical reaction as a basic neurochemical reaction. They see it as God communicating directly to them. If you want to see why this can be problematic, I suggest picking up a copy of Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven.

[guillaumeb]

19. For consideration:

First, some religions focus on a personal relationship to a deity, with personal revelation or personal interpretation if the belief system is written.

If one does believe, it is seen as possible, or even probable, that the deity will communicate on a personal level.

Obviously the problem arises when people act on what they feel is a divine command if that act involves violence. But people act violently for non-religious reasons also. The atomic bombs that were dropped on Japanese civilians were seen as patriotic acts. War is seen as a patriotic act.

[Act_of_Reparation]

20. I do not like patriotism, either.

For many of the same reasons I do not like religion.

[guillaumeb]

21. Consistent. Are there any belief systems that you endorse? eom

[Act_of_Reparation]

22. Of course.

Humanism. Empiricism. Materialism. Pessimism. I believe in a lot of things.

[guillaumeb]

23. And of these belief systems, or philosophies,

can materialism lead to greed?

Can pessimism lead to depression?

[Act_of_Reparation]

24. I don't know.

Maybe.

I'm not sure how that's relevant.

[guillaumeb]

25. Any beliefs or feelings can be taken to extremes.

As to the post, if religion has a euphoric or stimulative effect on the brain this seems to me to be a positive.

[Act_of_Reparation]

27. Anything can be taken to extremes. But that's not why I object to religion.

And no, euphoria is not a net positive. If it was, we'd all be shooting heroin right now.

[guillaumeb]

28. It seems to me that there is a tiny difference between using a highly addictive drug

and playing music. Or believing in a philosophy of life. But we can disagree on that.

[Act_of_Reparation]

29. "A philosophy of life"

Not exactly the words I'd use to describe Mormonism, as it is neither a philosophy nor life-affirming.

[guillaumeb]

30. And that is your personal view. Obviously many Mormons disagree with you. eom

[Act_of_Reparation]

31. Obviously.

People can convince themselves of anything if they try hard enough. David Duke, for example, insists he's not a racist.

[AtheistCrusader]

32. Nationalism is just as poisonous as Relgion from where I'm sitting.

[guillaumeb]

33. I understand this from some of your previous responses.

I would substitute "can be" for "is".

[AtheistCrusader]

34. That's fair.

I can think of a few government examples, and a few religion examples that I wouldn't describe in such harsh terms.

They are the exception rather than the rule, but I cannot say either is universally bad.

[guillaumeb]

35. I apprecaite nuance in a conversation.

So thanks.

[struggle4progress]

8. "music ... feelings of love and ... recreational drugs"

Whoa! It's so cool how everything gets lumped together!

Like, if I understand correctly what they're actually trying to say here is that sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll really are religions, man!

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[hrmjustin]

9. Maybe I should smoke pot before going to church.

Double the pleasure!

[stone space]

10. Wow! What's it look like when you do math?

When studying the brain scans, the researchers noted certain brain regions consistently lit up when the participants reported spiritual thoughts.

These are the same parts of the brain which have lit up when participants in previous studies have listened to music, experienced feelings of love and taken recreational drugs.

[Bretton Garcia]

11. So hope is dope.

Last edited Sat Dec 3, 2016, 07:09 AM - Edit history (1)

And John Paul II, the Pope of Hope, is really the Pope of Dope.

What even the ancients said about this, even in the time of Homer, was that taking feelgood things, like the "lotus eaters, " with their opium dreams, made us feel better short term. But caused us to neglect our serious responsibilities.

So dope was basically, self indulgence. We live in untrue fantasies, that only work over the short term. Since they are basically unreal illusions and delusions.

That fits the false promises of religion pretty well. Consider the "comfort"ing, sedating effect of (by the way, false) promises of miracles, and immortality, etc..

[rug]

12. Why'd you open a new account?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=profile&uid=280203

[Bretton Garcia]

13. My old email was no longer available.

It's good to make a change now and then too.

[stone space]

14. You can email skinner. That's how I got back in without morphing into "Banach Tarski Paradox". (nt)

[Bretton Garcia]

16. Points have no extension and do not really exist.

Therefore precisely speaking, they can neither define or be volumes.

Useful as they are in various approximations.

Therfore? You have no point.

[stone space]

17. I have only lines, in 3 dimensions.

And all I know about those lines is which pairs intersect at a right angle, the relation of perpendicularity.

Points can't possibly exist, because they are not preserved under the automorphisms of perpendicularity.

I can construct automorphisms of perpendicularity that don't even preserve intersection.

Thus, for me, geometry is pointless.

Points are not even preserved by the fundamental symmetries of my geometry.



I considered "automorphisms of reality" as a potential username, btw.

[WhiteTara]

26. "Religion is the opiate of the masses"

Karl Marx