Abstract
Studies examining how religion shapes individuals’ attitudes about science have focused heavily on a narrow range of topics, such as evolution. This study expands this literature by looking at how religion influences individuals’ attitudes towards the claim that neuroscience, or “brain wiring,” can explain differences in religiosity. Our analysis of nationally representative survey data shows, perhaps unsurprisingly, that religiosity is negatively associated with thinking that brain wiring can explain religion. Net of religiosity, though, individuals reporting religious experiences are actually more likely to agree that brain wiring can explain religiosity, as are individuals belonging to diverse religious traditions when compared to the unaffiliated. We also find that belief in the general explanatory power of science is a significant predictor of thinking that religiosity can be explained by brain wiring, while women and the more highly educated are less likely to think this is true. Taken together, these findings have implications for our understanding of the relationship between religion and science, and the extent to which neuroscientific explanations of religiosity are embraced by the general US public.
Highlights
Studies examining how religion shapes individuals’ attitudes about science have focused heavily on a narrow range of topics, such as evolution
About 15% of US adults agree that brain wiring can explain differences in religiosity, and only 3.5% strongly agree with this claim
Drawing on data from an original, nationally representative survey, we find that religiosity is negatively associated with thinking that brain wiring can explain religion
Summary
Much research has illuminated the centrality of religion in shaping attitudes around a myriad of scientific and technological findings and issues. Social scientific studies of religion have increasingly pointed to cognitive understandings of religion as a dynamic site in which to advance our understanding of religion, the cultural dimensions of religious beliefs, narratives, and identities (see Wuthnow 2007) This strain of literature departs from research that views cognitive processes and, “brain wiring” not just as a means of describing religious beliefs and experiences and explaining human dispositions towards religiosity. Research has significantly grown in recent years, among neuroscientists, in the domain coined neurotheology (McNamara 2006, 2009; Newberg 2010) This stream of work seeks to understand the science behind religious and spiritual experiences through individuals’ biological, psychological, and neurological responses. Despite the significant increase in this domain of research, some neuroscientists like Fingelkurts and Fingelkurts (2009) suggest that future work ought to use these tools to describe rather than explain religiosity, given other factors that may be at play
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