Religious Experiences, Brain Imaging, and Truth Claims
Several months ago, Gizmodo reported that scientists have discovered what happens in the brain when people have out-of-body experiences . In short, a pair of researchers used fMRI scanning to discern the changes in brain activity that occur when a particular test subject initiates an out-of-body experience, which she claims to be able to do at will. The application of brain imaging to religious experience is not new, and the neuroscientific study of religion is even older: scientists have been using fMRI technology to examine what occurs in the brain during "peak experiences" (to use Maslow's term) for at least 15 years, and were using EEGs to study the associated changes in brain waves since the middle of the 20th century. In fact, around the turn of the millenium this topic seemed to have a brief moment of popular interest, with several books published on the subject that inevitably drew conclusions about the implications of our ability to observe the brain states ...