In the December issue of Agora, Penn State’s first and only liberal arts journal, one piece has drawn considerable attention from the publication’s devout readers. In “Religion: A Cerebral Mix Up?” Jenny Lorenzo (Senior, Biology and Psychology) discusses the possibility that neural activity plays a large role in constructing one’s sense of a “higher being.”

Lorenzo was kind enough to sit down with me in the HUB one afternoon to discuss her research in more detail. As mentioned in the first half of “Religion: A Cerebral Mix Up?,” modern neuroscience shows that the temporal lobes of the human brain play a big role in determining our “sense of self.” Mild trauma is known to create a disruption between the left and right sides of the brain, and renders each side incapable of recognizing the fired neurons of the other. Lorenzo explains that these disruptions cause the left side of the brain to perceive the right side as a separate entity, another being, and vice versa.

Lorenzo was interested to find that Micahel Persinger, a researcher in the field of neurotheology, which explores the relationship between the brain and religion, has successfully created a way to simulate a spiritual experience. Persinger, along with other scientists, constructed a device known as “the God helmet,” which stimulates a person’s temporal lobes with electrodes in order to elicit a response. Most importantly for Lorenzo, Persinger’s experiments with the “God helmet” showed that both self proclaimed atheists and religious participants experienced a presence of another being when placed in a solitary, dark room while wearing the helmet, proving that stimulation to the temporal lobes created spiritual experiences.

After reading the article and discussing it with Ms. Lorezno, I was left with a few questions. Are these findings enough to discredit the notion that there is an omniscient, supernatural authority? Have we falsely been led to believe in God(s) by our own minds? Lorenzo doesn’t think so. When I asked her whether or not she believed that God is real or just a “cerebral mix up,” she replied “There’s a gray area. Both sides are arguable, but I don’t think religion can solely be explained by science.” Neither do I. What do you think?

You can read past issues of Agora by visiting our website.