The May 7, 2001 cover article of Newsweek featured a study discovering the part of the brain responsible for religious experiences. This could imply that God is just in our heads.

However, there is a valid argument.

The authors, Sharon Begley and Anne Underwood, state in their final paragraph, “But it is likely that they will never resolve the greatest question of all—namely, whether our brain wiring creates God, or whether God created our brain wiring. Which you believe is a matter of faith.”

Do you sometimes envy people with strong faith? Do you wish it were that simple for you? Do you have trouble reconciling religion with science? Or with everyday experience?

Those are reasonable questions. Even the Dalai Lama wrestles with such issues. Matthieu Ricard, who has a PhD in molecular biology and is a Buddhist monk, offers, “the Buddha always said that one should not accept his teachings simply out of respect for him, but rediscover their truth through our own experience, as when checking the quality of a piece of gold by rubbing it on a piece of stone, melting it and so on.”

Likewise, other religious leaders have promoted the value of questioning. Jim Wallis, spiritual advisor to former President Obama, said it well, “Real faith, you see, leads us to deeper reflection and not—not ever—to the thing we as humans so very much want . . . easy certainty.”

This section briefly explores dimensions and beliefs and applies our recent science awareness to admittedly scientifically unanswerable questions. It's not about conversion to a religion. It's about applying science and logic and questioning our beliefs.

Don't get the wrong impression. It's not about turning loose of your faith. Science tells us religion can be a very good thing.

For one, it could make us happier. The truth is people with a spiritual commitment or a high level of faith and devotion are twice as likely to report being "very happy" than spiritually non-committed people. High religiousness also predicts lower risk of depression and more reports of well-being and satisfaction with life. Jeffery Kluger of Time magazine says, "a growing body of evidence suggests that faith may indeed bring us health. People who attend religious services do have a lower risk of dying in any one year than people who don't attend. People who believe in a loving God fare far better after illness diagnosis than people who believe in a punitive God."[i]

You’ll remember from prior chapters the power of gratitude in promoting happiness. Religious people may be happier because they are better trained in gratitude. Religions often teach gratitude in prayer and other ways. Likewise, religion offers a sense of community and connectedness that we found so important in earlier chapters. And, religion promotes altruism, leading to a sense of meaning, the third source of happiness.

So religion is worth our attention. And scientists haven't missed the message.

Carl Sagan, perhaps one of our greatest scientists, provided interesting insight:

“How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, ‘This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant?’ Instead they say, ‘No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.’ A religion old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by conventional faiths.”

In fact, science has become more complex since Sagan's writing. The discovery of the potential for multi-universes and the Higgs boson, or “God particle,” has scientists in complete awe and respect for what we do not yet know.

With the discovery of “inflation,” the phenomenon where the universe expanded exponentially in the first trillionth of a second on a scale incomprehensible to us mere humans, it’s hard to not envision an awesome superior intelligence. Yet, fundamentalist Christians and others who take the Bible literally, or “creationists” don’t see inflation as scientific support for their claim that God created the universe. Their God took seven days, not trillionths of a second.

Scientists believe there was evolutionary pressure for religion. And it's no secret that early church leaders enacted doctrines to keep their followers “in line.”

Knowing this, the Dalai Lama has countered that the purpose of religion is to control yourself, not others. It may not be a bad thing to question dogma born of exclusion and lack of love, or to question churches telling us gays do not belong or that a divorced person cannot be married in the church. These are the "precepts of men," arising from religious desires to control or keep people in line.

However, despite the control issue, religions have enabled people to band together and help each other and “do good.” Dr. Andrew Newberg, an associate professor of radiology and psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, states in an interview for The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness,

“We shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. I don’t think religion is a black and white matter: yes, fundamentalism is a problem, as is rejecting data and ignoring scientific findings. But there are also good elements: the motivation to care about human beings, to develop compassion, to perfect ourselves and the world.”[ii]

People have given up on religion due to disagreements on doctrine or dogma. Those disagreements are likely healthy. But we shouldn't consider them reasons to disregard religion altogether.

There are reasons to persevere.

From a self-serving perspective, people with stronger religious beliefs do seem to have better health, resilience, and mental well-being. And, as shown in earlier chapters, the sense of community available from a church congregation can be beneficial. Likewise, the opportunities for altruism and living Seligman's "good life” or “meaningful life" are usually more available in religious organizations. Most have missions or community improvement projects or programs for less fortunate people to which members may contribute their time or money.

But there are those disagreements with church dogma. Let's look at it another way: a disagreement with a family member over politics or another point of view isn't a reason to leave the family. Perhaps, it’s the same with religions. Their policies or precepts may not be "right," but if they are not doing harm, and they are doing good for you and others, maybe you should consider the relationship like your family.

Click the “More About Religion” button below for additional discussion and an attempt to find an "essence."

[i] Jeffrey Kluger, "The Biology of Belief," Time, February 12, 2009, accessed July 27, 2009, www.time.com/printout/0.8816,1879016,00.html

[ii] Alvaro Fernandez and Elkhonon Goldberg with Pascale Michelon, The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness, 2013, SharpBrains, Inc., 151