Thinking can undermine religious faith. So can not thinking.

– The following is something I wrote a while back. Could be that I would now change some of the wording… Whatever, I agree with Ron that “gut” is the wron g word.

Moving right along — it turns out that the two hemispheres of the human brain process information differently. One hemisphere processes “holistically,” whereas the other processes “analytically.”
In other words, one hemisphere sees the ‘forest’, while the other sees the ‘trees.’
Typically, it is the right hemisphere that sees the forest, whereas it is the left hemisphere that sees the trees – but not always.
Whatever, we humans have two qualitatively different ways of looking at, or thinking about, the world…
And then, it turns out that our “sense” of magic originates in the holistic hemisphere. The holistic hemisphere is responsible for what we call “religious experience” and our sense of transcendence (the very germ of God).
The analytic hemisphere has little or no “truck” with such things. Unfortunately, the analytic hemisphere is also the one that decides whether or not something “makes sense.”
In other words, our “magical” beliefs are sensed — or imagined — by one hemisphere, but they are judged by the other hemisphere. They are judged by the hemisphere that cannot sense — or imagine — them… What sense does that make?
Whatever … either our analytic hemisphere is transcendence-blind (as in “color-blind”), or our holistic hemisphere hallucinates…

(In truth, this kind of hallucinating would make some sense in terms of evolutionary theory or natural selection.)
And by the way, we now have a new science called “Neurotheology” – reasonably enough, it studies the neurology of “religious experience”… (Google)(Try http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurotheology)

So, the holistic hemisphere is the one that “believes in” things; the analytic hemisphere “makes sense” of things.
And, this explains why we humans can honestly “believe in” something that doesn’t “make sense” to us…

Then, it turns out that each of us humans tends to be dominated by one hemisphere or the other (especially us men) — and therefore, by one way of thinking.
And naturally, humans dominated by their analytic hemispheres tend to have little appreciation for magic and religion.
And, this explains why religion can seem so foolish to some of us, and so obvious to others of us.

Then, it turns out that public education in the “west” (or at least the U.S.) teaches almost exclusively to the analytic hemisphere. (Link)
And naturally enough, kids who excel in U.S. schools tend to be dominated by their analytic hemispheres — and become more dominated as they progress through school.
And noting that the well-educated tend to dismiss the magical Jesus c/s takes on a whole new slant.
In other words, this could explain why most atheists are well-educated.

But, we still don’t know whether the analytic hemisphere is transcendence-blind or the holistic hemisphere hallucinates.
But then, if we think about it, what we call “reasoning” is analytic — whereas, reality itself must be holistic…
And consequently, trying to understand reality using (ordinary) reasoning must be like trying to solve a calculus problem using algebra. Or like trying to understand black holes in terms of classical physics or Euclidian Geometry. Or like, trying to slice up a round pizza using a rectangular pastry cutter. The whole being greater than the sum of its parts (as per Aristotle), something is intrinsically lost in translation, something is missing. (Consider the square root of two, or Zeno’s Paradox.)
And, the hemisphere that judges whether or not something “makes sense”– the analytic hemisphere — is simply incapable of seeing the forest that the other hemisphere sees (or, “believes in”)…
In other words, it must be that we cannot fully understand reality using reasoning — and reality will be “magical” in that sense. Part of reality must not make analytic sense.
In still other words, if we listen carefully, the analytic hemisphere is “telling on itself.” It is telling us that it cannot fully account for, or describe, reality… (We are getting this from the proverbial horse’s mouth…)
And, we are justified in suspecting that this is from where the “magic” we’re talking about comes, and why we shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss it.
So, analytically speaking, it appears that parts of reality are either “irrational” or non-physical, or both, and in that sense magical.
And, the RH is let off the hook. We still can’t be sure that the RH is not hallucinating, but the main reason for thinking that it is has been eliminated (or at least, considerably weakened) — and the magicalness of religion has a potential, if not likely, savior.

I don’t buy the premise. I’ve always thought that thinking strengthens faith, not undermines it. Christianity is a rational Faith, afterall, based on testimony – just like that of a court system.

Does thinking undermine the faith of a child that a loving parent loves them? Certainly not and in fact it strengthens that faith. The same is true of Christianity.

This looks like a debate we’ve had so many times before on this site.

1. “Faith without rationality is fanatacism …” Those who are said to rationalise without faith, evidently are putting their faith in something else, the supremacy of the human spirit perhaps.

2. I don’t see that the question of the authenticity of the Shroud is a matter of faith for most who believe in it. The evidence on this site is that they seek and prefer a rational approach to it. Further this rational approach has a proselytising utility towards agnostics and others who are predominantly rational in their outlook. It provides a route towards a mission to faith.

3. I made a study of Primal Religions as part of my major in RS. Our world-view is shaped by our culture – something not fully appreciated in Western societies. I note that one posting above mentions that Western education tends to emphasise “analysis”, but possibly this is not as true as it once was. Primal societies have an entirely different viewpoint, that fundamental causes of happenings are to be found in spiritual forces, magic and even witchcraft. I recall that G K Chesterton wrote in his booklet on “Orthodoxy” of the importance of an appreciation of magic among children in coming to a holistic understanding of the universe. In adulthood we too easily lose this appreciation of “magic” in our lives.

4 Richard’s posting is I think profound. I note that this seems to be intensely analytical. Does this say something about Richard’s brain hemispheres, I wonder?

5 The literary source of Noah’s Ark and the Flood can be found in the Babylonian legend of Utnapishtim, set down in the “Epic of Gilgamesh”. There are also several other similar flood stories in other ancient civilisations, generally those where flooding from large rivers created devastation. There are no such flood stories found in Egypt where the flooding of the Nile is seen as a benign event that revitalises the soil. The achievement of the Genesis writer was to give the Babylonian myth a religious purpose, in proclaiming the omnipotence and mercy of God.

6. God’s will is that all should be saved, and that includes all those whom he has created as more rational than others. Consequently a way must be sought that they must be proselytised by some appeal to their rational sense.

7. Concerning evolution – I was reading last night an entertaining piece from a library book on “American Humor” – “And so God says to Charles Darwin: ‘Let there be light in Kansas’ ”
by Gene Weingarten. Somewhere in it, God says: “To Man I gave a brain. Use it, okay?” It’s evident that Gene has a profound understanding of God’s purpose. If you can find it, pick it up, lighten up, and have a chuckle, for a change.

I just wanted to point out the fact that there is many different level of faith. And the Saints told us that the highest level is the one where you really live a true spiritual and personal relationship with your God. And that level is better lived when it comes from the heart instead of from the head… I really think that true faith is a question of love and confidence more than any other thing.