Polly Toynbee
God does not exist
Reproduced from the
Since the beginning of time,humans have
imagined themselves visited by strange beings - spirits,ghosts,angels,gods
and now aliens.For believers,the timeless universality of these other worldly
experiences throughout history is proof that God
exists.They say it shows beyond a doubt that we are born
naturally religious,born with an instinct to worship
a supreme being and filled with intimations of heaven glimpsed by a few specially
sensitive people.So it must be true.
Everyman (BBC1) this Sunday risks putting itself out of business once and
for all as a religious based programme.It solves the mystery of such experiences,
and, potentially,finds the root of all world religions at one remarkable
and controversial stroke.What if all mystical experiences
could be explained by a particular malfunction of an identifiable part of
the brain?
What if these same experiences can be reproduced in ordinary people
by stimulating that part of the brain? Its a programme to set atheists punching
the air.Yes! Proof at last God does not exist!
Dr Michael
Persinger,Professor of Neuroscience at the Laurentian University in Canada
believes he has found
God-and
its a brain disorder.He takes an ordinary woman, who has never had
any odd experiences,and puts her through his brain test.With electrodes
stimulating one part of her brain,she too reports seeing grey beings,a face
speeding towards her,a sense of extraordinary well being and a vaguely sexual
sensation.It mirrors so many of the descriptions we hear from those who believe
they have been visited by other spirits.
The results match those in oxygen deprivation tests which reproduce,
under laboratory conditions,those out-of-body and near death experiences
where the dying think they have glimpsed heaven.It is always a long dark
tunnel,ending in a bright light,with angel-like creatures accompanied by
a reassuring euphoria.It is,I'm afraid,the same pleasurable experience
summoned up by those who indulge in sexual perversions with near-hanging
and asphyxia.We shouldn't be surprised.After all ,many epileptics,who
have clearly diagnosed brain lesions, report many of the same visions and
hallucinations during a fit as mystics.
The programme includes speakers who suggest that biblical miracles,such as
Jacob's ladder of angels or Paul's conversion, reflect some of these
explainable brain functions precisely.If the three wise men were to be
alive now and saw the Star of Bethlehem,they would doubtless interpret it
as a UFO.
Alien abduction experiences are now remarkably common - and painfully convincing
to those otherwise normal people who have experienced them.Two sane and sensible
ordinary women talk in this programme about their regular alien abduction
experiences and how difficult it is to live with them.How can they make others
believe what is so real to them?
In a sense,the experience is real.They have seen and heard these things so
often,always at night,always carried out by shadowy
aliens.Vaguely sexual sensations are an important
part of it with both women believing they have had eggs taken from them to
create a hybrid new race.Dr Persinger points out that women and men have
had these visions for centuries,describing them in the Middle Ages as incubi
or succubi-devils who perform unwanted sexual acts on people in their sleep.In
the Middle Ages,the alien abductees would have been burned as
witches.
Now I suppose,we should be sending them to a psychiatrist.Even if their brain
malfunction cannot be corrected,they might be more at peace with their visions
if they could realise what they are- phantoms of the
mind.It is clearly distressing for these people to feel they have been
selected as messengers by space godfathers - especially when the nature of
the message is so vague.It leaves them with a sense of urgency that the world
needs saving [Just like the religious
evangelists-LB]-but quite how or from what remains incohate.
Orthodox religions have always found ways to accommodate new scientific
discoveries.So what will they do with God as a brain malfunction? I suppose
they will relocate God in the brain and say he was always in our heads,scientists
have merely proved his existence,or something of the sort. Meanwhile,atheists
will smile and wait for the day when religious apocalyptic visions,which
have given rise to so much dangerous fanaticism,are put to rest with a medical
cure.
Are we hardwired to believe in God?