In 2009, Nicholas Epley, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago used an fMRI scanner to peer into the brains of volunteers who were asked to state opinions on various controversial topics. [Click here for a full summary of the experiments] The volunteers gave their own opinions, what they believed other people’s opinions would be, and what they believed God’s opinion to be. As they responded to the questions, they accessed different parts of their brains. When they gave their own opinions, a particular part of the brain lit up on the scanner. When they gave what they believed to be other people’s opinions – even when those opinions agreed with their own – another part lit up. So which part lit up when they gave “God’s” opinion? You can probably guess.
Other people’s opinions over here, me and God over here.
The brain scans weren’t the only aspect of the study. In another test, “Epley showed that he could change people’s views on God’s will by manipulating their own beliefs.” In yet another,
Epley got people to manipulate themselves. He asked 59 people to write and perform a speech about the death penalty, which either matched their own beliefs or argued against them. The task shifted people’s attitudes towards the position in their speech, either strengthening or moderating their original views. And as in the other experiments, their shifting attitudes coincided with altered estimates of God’s attitudes (but not those of other people).
For atheists, there is nothing surprising about any of this. Theists may or may not be surprised. Some might say, “Well, the subjects are basing their views on what they believe God’s to be, not vice versa.” Epley’s studies included controls for this possibility (visit the link above for more info), but even if they hadn’t, why does “God” light up the “me” part of the brain instead of the “other people” part?
Whether Epley’s study influences a person’s beliefs or not, I think it still serves as a flashing Caution! light for theists. Whether you’re conservative or liberal, fundamentalist or progressive, are you following what you believe to be your god’s will, or is your god you?
“You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” -Anne Lamott
