In the accusations of theologians and philosophers against "reductionism" and "scientism", human beings know that
Know explorers and pioneers-scientists pack their bags and go to the base camp of metaphysics-religion and ethics
Richard has already set out. Neurotheology and neuroethics.
Joined the scientific isomorphism. Neurotheology, also known as bio-theology, is the subjective experience of studying religious mystery.
The discipline of the neural and evolutionary basis of phenomena. In layman's terms, it means going straight to God, such as Tathagata, Allah,
The nests of Vishnu, Zeus, Jupiter and Grand Priest.
The term "neurotheology" was not written by scientists, but by the British novelist Audes.
Huxley (1894- 1963) wrote a novel about utopia in his 1962.
It was first put forward in Island. Huxley published a book on how to use it in 1954.
Psychedelic drug Mescalin's book "The Gate of Perception" expanded consciousness. He later became
One of the spiritual leaders of hippies in California, the oriental mystery represented by Hinduism.
The theory became interested. 196 1 year, he suffered a great blow-his house and manuscript were flooded.
The wood was completely burned in the fire. 1963165438+1On October 22nd, Huxley died in Los Angeles.
Later, scientists borrowed "neurotheology" to name a new discipline, although the word was not used in other fields.
It is occasionally used in the field of science.
Scientists divide religious and mysterious experience phenomena and measurable indicators into the following categories: 1, time.
Loss of feeling, fear and self-awareness; 2. Spiritual awe of mysterious power; 3. live in harmony with the universe
The feeling of being one; 4, ecstasy obsession (such as Fan Jinzhong); 5. Epiphany (Zen); 6. Very good
State of consciousness (e.g. brain in fever and nonsense, brain in severe sleep deprivation); 7, the top of the brain and pineal gland
The increase of molecular content of dimethyltryptamine. (Dimethyltryptamine is a psychedelic agent, and the human body will take it in a small amount.
Cheng; Some plants in South America contain this molecule, and their leaves are lit and smoked by local indigenous shamans in religious ceremonies.
Into hallucinations. )
In 1950s, scientists began to use EEG to measure brain waves when people entered "state". At the age of eighty
In 1980s, Michael Persinger, a Canadian scholar, tried to stimulate the middle temporal lobe of the human brain with a weak magnetic field.
(temple), which caused 80% of the subjects' religious experience, leaving them alone.
I feel another mysterious figure in my room. The equipment he used was nicknamed "Helmet God".
Patients with epilepsy in the middle temporal lobe will have religious hallucinations. A male atheist once felt dead.
Go; Another female Christian patient hallucinated that she had given birth to Jesus. In the first clear middle temporal lobe
In the comparative experiment of regional epilepsy and religious sensation, whether it is the control group (normal people) or the epilepsy group,
Look at three kinds of words: neutral words (such as table), provocative words (such as sex) and religious words (such as God).
)。 The control group has the strongest response to sexy words; Epilepsy group has the strongest reaction to religious words, but the opposite reaction to sexy words.
Should be ranked third. Psychopaths and devout religious believers are sometimes separated by a window paper.
In order to further understand the relationship between neural activity and religious experience, scientists used neuroimaging technology.
Observe the difference between the activities of different parts of the brain and the normal state during religious experience. In one experiment, science
Scientists injected radioactive tracer into the blood of a Buddhist, and then after the Buddhists settled down completely, they became interested in the university.
Imaging of blood flow distribution in the brain. The results showed that in addition to the expected abnormal activity of the middle temporal lobe, the main
The activity of the parietal cortex, which controls time and space, almost stops. Without the sense of time and space, people lose themselves.
Feeling. Some religious ceremonies are designed to make believers lose the sense of time and space, lose themselves, feel and a.
The vast and mysterious objects are integrated into one, thus gaining a strong religious experience.
In July 2006, scientists from Johns Hopkins Medical Research Institute published an experimental result, which showed that
The effective component of hallucinogenic mushrooms, gymnospermin, can cause religious experience and bring satisfaction to the subjects.
It can last for two months. Gymnosporin is a kind of plant alkali, the scientific name is dimethyl -4- hydroxytryptamine phosphate, which can
Extracted from Mexican mushrooms, it acts on the receptor of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain.
The test results are highly repeatable. This result is not surprising to many scientists because they know.
Some primitive tribes, gymnosperms and similar hallucinogens have been used in religion for a long time.
At the ceremony. The main contribution of this study is to establish the naked mushroom element by scientific method.
Causality with religious experience, and the length of its subsequent influence. This experiment adopts double-blind control method.
Subjects were divided into two groups, 36 in each group. One group took gymnosperm, and the other group took placebo. test object
After taking the medicine and two months later, they filled out a detailed psychological questionnaire to measure their "god" state.
When tested immediately after taking the medicine, 22 people in the naked mushroom group had religious experience, while only 4 people in the control group had religious experience. two
A few months later, two-thirds of the 22 people regarded this experience as the strongest religious experience in their lives.
Once, or in the top five in its strong religious experience.
There are a large number of neurotransmitter 5- hydroxytryptamine receptors in the middle temporal lobe mentioned above, which is the most in religious experience.
Active, so scientists call it "Shenxue".
Previous fasting, meditation, not sleeping, and dying (such as actively or passively holding your breath until the last moment) are all caused.
A good way of religious experience, Psilocybin's mechanism is similar to theirs.
These discoveries, coupled with the universality of religious experience across cultures, histories and religious sects, have made scientists
It can be inferred with confidence that religious phenomena and religious experiences are nothing more than the human brain under extreme or specific conditions.
Normal reaction, rather than "wireless communication" with a so-called transcendental god.
God is not elsewhere, he is in the skull of believers, which is the cooperation of nerve cells in the temporal lobe of "Shenxue".
Fire, and inhibit the sense of time and space in the parietal cortex. People can see God in many ways: wearing helmets.
God "; Epilepsy in middle temporal lobe; Take "god molecules" such as gymnospermin or inhale dimethyl ether.
Primary amine; Or in traditional ways, such as meditation, hunger strike, sleep deprivation, fever and drinking. I really can't, but
Climb to the top of the twentieth floor and make a leap of faith (too crowded)
The trilogy of theology attacking science
Science is an activity of human beings to explore the truth of nature, and its fundamental purpose is certainly not aimed at theology and God, but the discovery of science often brings a devastating impact on Christian teachings. In the face of this fundamental blow that comes with science revealing the truth, the church will naturally not let go. Therefore, in history and reality, there have been scenes in which theology attacked science.
Generally speaking, the attack of theology on science can be divided into three stages.
1. In a general sense, quote Bible verses and sentences to oppose new scientific discoveries. The arrogance of Christian theology makes the church and theologians often disdain the major scientific discoveries that have just come out. It may be because these discoveries are still in their infancy, or it may be because they seem harmless to teachings on the surface, which makes them seem unworthy of theologians' attention. Even if they take the time to express their views, theologians believe that the use of biblical words, even if they only use literal meanings, can completely refute these scientific trivia. However, the church often underestimates the ability of science and the destructive power of scientific discovery to doctrine, so the second stage is inevitable.
2. Oppose science with major theories and viewpoints in theology. At this stage, the new scientific theory is supported by more and more evidence, and the impact on theology and even the shaking of the foundation of doctrine is imminent, and it gradually gains sympathy and praise among ordinary people, showing an irresistible momentum. Only then did the church discover that there was nothing wrong with strangling this scientific "heresy" in the cradle, so it dispatched authoritative theologians, set up Katyusha rockets of various theological theories, and launched a round of onslaught on the thriving new scientific theory. However, under the impetus of human exploration of nature and the pressure of religion and secularism, scientific truth is becoming more and more brilliant and truly mature like a diamond. At this time, any major and famous theological theory and authority can only show their insignificance in the face of the simple glory of scientific theory and have to struggle to enter the third stage.
3. Try to reconcile the scripture with the facts confirmed by science in an extremely far-fetched way. At this point, the church and theologians know that they are at the end of their rope, and it is useless to despise, abuse, suppress, curse and fight. Mature scientific theory has been guiding further scientific exploration and deeply rooted in people's hearts. It is useless to continue cursing with scripture, and it is weak and ridiculous to argue with theology again. It seems that the Christian church also understands the old adage of "harmony is precious" in China, so it has to offer an olive branch to make peace with science. However, after all, the church can't put down the shelf of a noble god, and peace should also have the taste of "wooing". So theologians put down their quill pens, dug up moldy scriptures with Lamian Noodles's superb skills, and turned them up and down for a while, and came to the conclusion that this new scientific discovery was only predicted in the Bible a long time ago. Look at one, two, three, and so on. On the other hand, after grasping the straws, the church and the Pope proudly announced their gratitude to the scientists for their work inspired by God, which once again showed the glory of God.
At this point, the compromise and failure of theology declared the victory of scientific truth.
Liu Liqun on the relationship between science and religion.
Deism is the core of Christian doctrine and the focus of the dispute between science and religion in the West. According to the Christian doctrine, everything in the world is created by God, but people can't see God directly, so how can we know the existence and greatness of God? In Christian view, there are two ways. The first is to know God through the revelation of God, that is, the Bible, and the truth obtained from it is called "apocalyptic truth"; The second is to know God by knowing God's creation, that is, to know nature (including people), and the resulting truth is called "natural truth". In other words, we can also know God by studying nature, which is also one of the ways to know God. In this sense, Christianity and scientific research do not seem to contradict each other, and Christianity also encourages natural scientific research. However, this is only one aspect of the matter. On the other hand, there are bound to be contradictions and conflicts between the two. There are two most famous debates, one is about Heliocentrism and geocentric theory, and the other is about biological evolution.
Heliocentrism's initial germination appeared in ancient Greece, and geocentric theory also appeared. The geocentric theory with relatively complete form was put forward by Ptolemy, a famous ancient Greek scholar (about 90- 168). This model better explains many astronomical phenomena observed at that time and is more convincing. In addition, on the one hand, geocentric theory conforms to people's intuitive experience (people usually can't imagine that the earth is rotating, because on the one hand, people can't perceive the rotation of the earth, on the other hand, it can't explain why people won't fall into the sky if the earth is rotating, because people didn't know there was gravity at that time), on the other hand, it also conforms to people's narrow mentality at that time, and they are used to starting from themselves and thinking that their residence is the center of the world and even the universe. Therefore, geocentric theory has been widely recognized, and the famous medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas (1224- 1274) accepted Ptolemy's geocentric theory and incorporated it into his own theological theory.
Christianity believes that man is created by God in his own image, and the sun, moon and stars are created by God for human beings, so the place where human beings live should be the center of the universe. The combination of Christian thought and Ptolemy's geocentric theory has formed the idea or hypothesis that "the earth is in the center of the universe, with heaven above and hell below". Ptolemy's geocentric theory becomes the evidence of Christian thought, and opposing it is tantamount to opposing Christian teachings. On the other hand, according to Thomas Aquinas' theory, it is allowed to know God by knowing nature, while Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, etc. Observing and studying nature, we find that it is not the sun that is moving, but the earth that is moving. They think that the picture of the universe they found was really created by God, which caused a heated debate. Copernicus wrote and published The Theory of the Operation of Celestial Bodies, and put forward Heliocentrism. His original intention was not to challenge the dominance of Christian theology through his own astronomical research. He himself is a devout Catholic, and wrote a "preface" for Pope Paul III, saying that he hoped this book would "make some contributions to the supreme power of all Christians and His Majesty". He thinks Ptolemy's geocentric theory is like a "monster", because it adopts a very complicated so-called "current circle or even circle" system (79 in total), which is not in line with God's will, saying that "the creator does not create tedious and useless things". He believes that the system he created (in today's expression, it is a model) "shows the amazing symmetry of the universe", thus showing "how great the solemn works of the divine creator are". That is, he actually thought he was studying astronomy and putting forward new theories within the scope of Christian theology. This undoubtedly shows his historical limitations and reflects the strong religious theism atmosphere in the West at that time.
The Italian scientist Bruno (1548- 1600) went further than Copernicus. He believes that there is not only one solar system in the universe, but countless ones. This deprives the sun of its special position in the universe, which is completely different from the Christian cosmic structure map and arouses the anger of Catholic priests. 1600 was sentenced to the stake by the Roman Inquisition. The third important figure in the dispute between Heliocentrism and geocentric theory is Galileo (1564- 1642). He initially agreed with Ptolemy's geocentric theory, and later observed many new astronomical phenomena through his telescope. After analyzing these observations, he realized that the Copernican system was much superior to that of ptolemaic system, and began to publicize and demonstrate the Copernican theory, which was accepted by the Roman Inquisition in 660. Later, a series of advances in astronomy proved that geocentric theory was wrong. The Vatican was forced to admit that Heliocentrism was right in 1882; Galileo's case was retried on 1979. /kloc-after "re-examination" in 0/3 years, it was determined that Galileo's theory was not heresy, and 1992 was officially rehabilitated.
Objectively speaking, although Copernicus didn't come to a completely correct conclusion and didn't really want to break the monopoly position of Christian theology, after all, he took a big step forward in natural science research, which was of great significance in emancipating the mind and made people gradually base themselves on facts, not simply on past theories, doctrines and dogmas, no matter how authoritative these theories were and how many people supported them.
The second is the debate about biological evolution. The Old Testament Genesis claims that the whole world and all living things were created by God. This is "creationism" and an extension of "theism". 17th century, an Irish archbishop even "calculated" that God began to create the world in BC 10, and it took 6 days to complete it in BC 10 in December. Creationism is also combined with teleology to become a theological teleology. For example, the Bible says: God created women to make men not lonely, God created vegetables and fruits to give people food, and God created water to raise fish.
From 16 to 18 century, the European scientific community gradually accumulated a large amount of information about existing organisms and fossils. French naturalist Buffon (1707- 1788) discovered that species are changeable through a lot of observation and analysis, and put forward species in his book Animal Natural History in 1749. However, under the pressure of Christian forces, he later deleted the parts that were obviously contradictory to the contents of the Bible when the book was reprinted. Lamarck, a French biologist, put forward the theory of biological evolution in the book Animal Philosophy in 1809, opposing Linnaeus' theory of species invariance, and using "use in and discard out" and acquired inheritance to explain the reasons for species change.
Darwin (1809-1882)1828, a master of biological evolution, entered Cambridge University to study theology and prepare to be a priest in the future. However, Darwin made great efforts to study natural history. 183 1 After graduating from university, he went to the HMS Beagle of the British Admiralty as a naturalist for a global scientific investigation. Before taking part in the scientific investigation, he was an orthodox Christian and firmly believed that the world was created by God. However, during his five-year scientific expedition around the world, he discovered the fact that many species have evolved or mutated, which greatly changed his ideas and influenced his belief in Christianity. In his memoirs, he said, "I gradually realized that there was an obvious fact of tampering with world history in the Old Testament ... I gradually stopped believing that Christianity was a revelation from God." He published the Origin of Species on 1859, with the core view of "natural selection", namely "survival competition, survival of the fittest" and "natural selection", and believed that biological evolution was carried out according to the mechanism of natural selection. The theory of biological evolution directly impacted the core doctrine of Christianity, that is, the theory of God's creation, and a series of doctrines based on it, such as "original sin" and "atonement", lost their basis and significance, thus causing strong slander and attacks by Christian forces, including many natural scientists who have not got rid of the shackles of Christian thought. For example, in 1864, 30 members of the Royal Society and 40 medical doctors jointly issued a statement opposing Darwin's theory of evolution. However, more and more scientists have gradually joined the ranks in favor of evolution, and proved the correctness of evolution with more facts and research results.
Christian fundamentalism is still a force hindering the progress of American society. For more than a hundred years, they have tried their best to obstruct the teaching of evolution as the basis of modern biology. In the 1920s, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and other states passed laws prohibiting the teaching of evolution in public schools. 1925, a middle school teacher in Tennessee, USA, was tried for teaching evolution, which shocked the world. It was not until 1967 that the Tennessee legislature revoked the law against evolution. 1968, a senior high school biology teacher in Little Rock, Arkansas, challenged the state's anti-evolution law, and the lawsuit went to the US Supreme Court, which ruled that such a law was unconstitutional. Since then, creationists have launched the so-called "scientific creationism" movement, claiming that creationism is a "scientific theory" like evolution and should be taught in biology classes at the same time. In the early 1980s, they successfully lobbied the legislatures of Arkansas and Louisiana to pass laws requiring public schools to teach evolution and creationism in "equal time". 1987, the United States supreme court ruled that such laws were unconstitutional, and held that creationism was a religion, not a science, and could not be taught as a scientific theory like evolution.
Since then, creationists have changed their strategy again. In order not to be regarded as religion, they avoid using the word "God", and say that biology is "intelligent design", and demand that "intelligent design theory" be taught as a scientific theory. The "intelligent design theory" was mainly put forward and demonstrated by an American organization called Discovery Institute. On February 2 1 this year, World Online Daily published a statement signed by 5 14 scientists of the Institute, saying, "We question Darwin's statement that biological random mutation ability and natural selection theory explain complex life. The act of carefully examining the evidence of Darwin's theory should be encouraged. " I think the crux of the problem is not whether Darwin's theory of evolution has certain defects, but that any form of "creationism" is completely wrong and unscientific. It can be seen that the struggle between science and religion is complex and difficult. It is completely normal that scientific research has defects and deficiencies, because scientific research itself is an endless process, a process of continuous improvement and progress, including various theoretical theories of natural science so far. However, we should not completely deny the flawed theory, but only further correct and improve it, instead of taking some defects such as evolution theory to prove the correctness of "creationism".
After great progress has been made in natural science, which poses a great threat to Christianity, the church, especially the Catholic church, has gradually adapted to the changes of the times, and it can be said that it is also maintaining its power and influence with the times. For example, the first Vatican meeting in 1869 emphasized the harmony between faith and reason. The reason is that God is not only the source of faith, but also the source of reason, so God will not oppose himself. 1879, Pope Leo XIII issued the encyclical "Eternal Father", demanding that Christianity should be combined with the development of natural science. After entering the 20th century, the Catholic Church further abandoned the line of confrontation with natural science and vigorously advocated the consistency between religion and natural science. 1936, the papal academy of sciences was established, and a large number of famous scientists were hired as academicians. 1979, Einstein's centenary birthday was held in an academy of sciences in Rome. Pope Paul II delivered a speech, saying that "the autonomy of science in exploring the role of God's fingers in writing truth in the process of creation has been recognized".