• Question: do you guys belive in god and of so does it obsruct your work?

    Asked by dragonslayer22453356 to Chris, Emily, Martin, Natalie, Tamsin on 17 Mar 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Emily Cook

      Emily Cook answered on 17 Mar 2010:

      I’ve been brought up as a Catholic so god and religion have always been part of my life.

      I wouldn’t say that I believe in god, and certainly I don’t agree with all the things that the Pope says, but I understand that faith is important to many people. It is lent at the moment and I am really feeling it – having not had cheese or chocolate for several weeks now!

      Luckily it doesn’t affect my research as I don’t think any religions have a problem with x-rays and I’m not working on the new ‘naked’ scanners so I don’t have to worry about freedom of choice there. I do find it very difficult though when people try to tell me that science is wrong because the bible says so. My mind works in a way that means I believe things that I have seen evidence for so the BIg Bang and evolution seem pretty definite to me!

      Good question (if a little personal!)

    • Photo: Martin Coath

      Martin Coath answered on 17 Mar 2010:

      I have no strong religious beliefs, but it wouldn’t matter if I had.

      It is true that scientific research very occasionaly leads to results that are seen as controversial by some people who are religious. But as far as I know modern neuroscience has never been involved in this sort of controversy.

      In fact the main feature of the modern world is that conflicts between religion and science are very rare and we find people of all faiths working together towards common ends. This is one of the good things about being a scientist.

    • Photo: Natalie Stanford

      Natalie Stanford answered on 17 Mar 2010:

      This type of question has popped up a few times. I am an Atheist which means I don’t believe in a God. The compatibility between science and religion can vary greatly and can depend on whether someone is a fundamentalist in their religious beliefs or even what religion they follow. For example Buddhism is more compatible with scientific discovery than evangelic Christianity is. But this doesn’t mean that to work in science you can’t be religious. I number of my colleagues are religious and it doesn’t affect how they do their work. I like this article by Albert Einstein http://einsteinandreligion.com/irrec.html It explains the different purposes of religion and science, and I believe it shows that the two can be compatible. Although, contrary to this, Richard Dawkins, a modern scientist has written a book called The God Delusion in which he portrays any kind of belief in a god as delusional. Clearly he would not agree that science and religion are compatible. What do you think?

    • Photo: Chris Cooper

      Chris Cooper answered on 17 Mar 2010:

      Most days I believe in God. I make a case of keeping my religious and scientific beliefs completely separate. I am probably rather unusual in that if a scientific experiment affected my religious view, I would change my religious view rather than distrust the science. This is because I believe God gave me a logical brain so I trust it to tell me about the world.

    • Photo: Tamsin Gray

      Tamsin Gray answered on 18 Mar 2010:

      I don’t believe in god but I know some scientists who do and I don’t think it really changes their approach to their work. Do you think it should?

Comments

  • Photo: Chris

    Chris commented on :

    Martin – don’t you think modern neuroscience gets into religious/philosophical waters when it informs about free will and determinism? Consciousness seems to be at the heart of both subjects.

    • Photo: Martin

      Martin commented on :

      You have a point of course. We have to be careful about what we mean by “free will/determinism” because these ideas have a number of interpretations.

      But if you take the “common sense” view that we either choose what we do or we don’t, then neuroscience has nothing firm to say about that at this time.

      The jury is still out and I guess will be for a long time. While there is any ambiguity then it may divide along religious lines! (Gulp)

  • Photo: Chris

    Chris commented on :

    So what about this paper in Nature Neuroscience where a decision is fixed 10 seconds before someone is consciously aware he had made the decision. http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v11/n5/abs/nn.2112.html. Doesn’t this at least ask the question about free will and determinism.

    • Photo: Martin

      Martin commented on :

      Of course we have to take this stuff seriously because it *is* counter intuitive and does challenge a certain simplistic view of free will.

      I need to see data from similar experiments where the task is behaviourly relevant, involves skill and judgement, and has consequences.
      .

  • Moderator - Craig commented on :

    Good question!