Religion was previously believed to be solely healing, but new research shows religious influence on the brain is more complex |
In a recent article published in the New York Times' IHT Global Opinion, writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali speaks to the degree to which he was influenced by anti-Jewish sentiments growing up in a Muslim family and country. "I constantly heard my mother, other relatives and neighbors wish for the death of Jews, who were considered our darkest enemy," Ali writes. Ali explains that even religious tutors and preachers at mosques would reserve time for prayer for the destruction of the Jewish people. As such an endorsement of negative sentiments by religious authorities probably insinuated that Allah resented Jews, the people who subscribed to the belief that Islam is anti-Semitic have likely experienced more stress than others in the Middle East or in the world who have experienced Islam as an embracing religion.
San Francisco Gate writer David Ian Miller comments on these evident discrepancies in emotional responses to religion between those who see their god as loving and peaceful and those who see him as more intimidating. "If you focus on a God that's angry and vengeful," he writes, "that activates the anger centers of your brain, the strong emotional centers, which creates stress and anxiety."
Many other people and groups of people also experience stress as a result of religion. For example, a person can have issues incorporating certain dramatic events they've experienced into their religion, or may feel disconnected from his or her family's traditional religious beliefs and wish to start anew. Yet others may feel they are persecuted or resented by their religion or their god--homosexuals who subscribe to Christianity, as a well-known example--and this inspires feelings of exclusion and a lack of love that could make a person emotionally unstable. More oppressive religions or denominations might inspire more stress among those who feel innately persecuted than religions or denominations that are more moderate or liberal in their views. More conservative religions may also inspire stronger negative sentiments in people who feel that they are being chastised by their god or those that feel they've failed their god in some way. In terms of location, those who feel they are a religious minority where they live likely experience more anxiety as a result of their religion.
MRI scans showing hippocampal shrinkage (yellow=hippocampus) |
This study seems to offer biological evidence that supports the argument that those who subscribe to more historically conservative religious groups--born-again Protestants and Catholics, in this case--and those who have no religious faith experience more stress than those who are subscribe to a religion with more "moderate" views. Thus, an argument supporting this conclusion might hold that experiencing a more positive personal relationship with religion allows a person to experience less stress and perhaps less susceptibility to emotional or physical illness that could result from higher stress levels.