Thread: The God Helmet

I started a thread a while back about the psychological argument for atheism, or rather against all theological arguments. It wasn't very well received, though most of the objections weren't necessarily legitimate in my opinion. The main strife was that one of my main sources was Carl Jung, and to some his work skirted a little too close to the realms of mysticism and philosophy. Well, I saw a very interesting show on the discovery channel tonight that was hosted by Morgan Freeman, and it seemed to support the argument that all religion can be explained away through psychology. This time though, it involves a highly controlled experiment in which the experimenter, Michael Persinger, claims to have pin-pointed the exact location within the brain where all religious and paranormal experiences are created. He created a machine that some have called the "God Helmet," which uses magnets to stimulate these areas of the brain which then inadvertently create "religious experiences." He has apparently been able to successfully recreate religious experiences time after time with individuals of varying backgrounds, believers and non-believers. This may not be definitive proof that God is not real, but I think it is an interesting revelation nonetheless. It should at least raise questions to any believers out there who claim to have had a "religious experience," to know that it can be easily recreated in a lab, and perhaps even more vividly than what you experienced yourself. Here's a clip from the show:





And here is another one about Michael Persinger: