Study suggests 'born-again' believers have smaller brains

Originally posted by madnessinmysoul
reply to post by NOTurTypical

 

Read. Stop throwing out stupid little quips. Bother to actually examine the things you disagree with. This study shows a correlation about brain size. Please, read the study or just stop being so damn ignorant.

Naaaah, I'm still having way too much fun.

Especially now that I know I'm making you mad.



BTW, when is this depression gonna start kicking in?

Maybe Evolution is true after all.

Maybe the ones who are not being born again by the Holy Spirit are not going to evolve and will become extinct in a few hundred years.

How sad that your hippo chimps are not shrinking.

"Studies" can be conducted much like "polls" - you always get the answer you're looking to get from them.

Propaganda.

Wait, wait, wait... Protestants, Catholics AND people with no religious affiliation? That completely contradicts the title of this topic. I think it may be misleading.

reply to post by mkkkay


The study seemed very up front, and honest, and it wasn't suggesting anything about belief...it compared 'born again' experiencing (which I assume means those who had a religious conversion from being an atheist or agnostic) to those who didn't (those born into it...again I'm assuming) along with Catholics, those unaffiliated, etc.....it was saying nothing about intelligence...in fact it was only talking about a single part of the brain....people are jumping on this like its some attack against religion which it CLEARLY isn't! I wish people would READ these articles before commenting.

reply to post by AwakeinNM


No, you really can't. Of course, considering that most people on this website seem don't seem to actually know how a scientific publication works, I'm not surprised by this.

And a good poll, with an actually well done sample, will not get the results you necessarily want...unless those results are the real ones.

Yeah deffo think people who worship god or religion are the dumbest of the dumb

Oh and then fight over it,

Just another attempt to insult Believers. Every notice that non-believers find it necessary to demean, slander and insult believers? It is an attempt by atheists to justify their position and stroke their ego.

Nothing new here.

Not to be picky but we all have two side to each brain, right hemisphere and the left hemisphere
i wonder if that could have an impact on it. like any thing else balance is best
is the hypocampus in the centre or is it on side
Here is a list of traits associated with each human brain hemisphere:[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f59f9dbae89b.jpg[/atsimg]

When you measure the brain waves generated by both sides of your brain, you'll find that they're slightly out-of-sync or out-of-phase from each other. Scientists know that the more one-sided our brains are, the more erratic and higher the frequency will be.

In the 1970s, psychologists were experimenting with brain waves and discovered that "enlightened" individuals (i.e. Buddhist monks and Gurus) had a remarkable synchronization of their brain waves in both hemispheres. As a result, their overall brain wave patterns were slower.As brain wave synchronization increases, the two sides of your brain communicate more with each other -- and that's what is important. If your brain waves slow down enough, you'll eventually enter Theta (a bridge to the subconscious and insight and creativity) and maybe even Delta brainwaves (a deep dreamless state or extremely deep meditation).

Further brainwave synchronization will lead to both sides of your brain being so balanced that your brainwaves will merge into a single coherent brain wave pattern. Some people believe that at this point, the normal conscious mind is bypassed and you finally achieve the "it", the "oneness" or enlightenment -- the awakened mind.

Here is the link to the articleviewzone2.com...

Isaac Newton was a born again Christian. Im pretty sure he was smart, with a fully functional brain.

Just more propaganda to show one group is is less intelligent than another because of their beliefs. If you believe in Jesus we now have proof you are less intelligent than most people. This tactic has been used so many times throughout the last hundred years. It is better known as "Scientific Racism" ( look it up ) and it was also one of the excuses used by hitler to explain why the Jews had to be exterminated. Same old BS used to belittle another group you disagree with!

Just more propaganda to show one group is is less intelligent than another because of their beliefs. If you believe in Jesus we now have proof you are less intelligent than most people. This tactic has been used so many times throughout the last hundred years. It is better known as "Scientific Racism" ( look it up ) and it was also one of the excuses used by hitler to explain why the Jews had to be exterminated. Same old BS used to belittle another group you disagree with!

reply to post by General.Lee


I will remember that the next time someone tells me I am going to hell because I don't follow their beliefs or do what they want to do.

Or they knock on my door on a Sunday, after wasting paper to try to bring me a phamplet.

reply to post by mkkkay


well its obviously the other way around since we think outside of the box, they're just switching it up to make us feel bad.... clearly if we can see past everything we arn't the dumb ones

I've got a few questions about the study (which I did read)

Did they rule out environmental causes of the shrinkage? ie. fluoride in water, proximity to other toxins, etc.

Did they rule out other stress in the lives of the subjects? ie. Marriage, divorce, death of family, loss of job/independence or mobility, etc.?

Just too many loose ends in this study for me to validate their findings.

PS. I consider myself a "Christian", although I accept all "religious" books and doctrine the same way - by reading and coming to a personal understanding of the words and what they mean to me and my journey on Earth.
I also study scientific theory (contrary to public opinion that all believers are idiotic heathen who deny all science) How presumptuous to think that only non-believers can believe in Climate Change, Black Holes, planetary alignment, string theory, etc (to long to list every known theory, sorry)

That is education, and to demean anyone for a belief system is ignorant, in my opinion.

Atheism is also a religion, as it is a belief system (based on the BELIEF that there is no God, without proof, therefore a religion). So all you atheists who insist on spewing your venom from your pedestal, come on down, you are just like the rest of us who don't really have a clue how the story of man really begins or ends.

Any human that decides to only read one book(actually a very small library) and accept that text as the true only answer to ALL universal questions( where did we come from, who made us, how did the universe begin.....) and also how to live your life ; that person will naturally use less intelligence.



Its simple logic , if one doesn't have to ponder and think of all the complexities life entail then he or she is not using most of there brains. For instance: If I buy the best,most expensive laptop and I only use it to play my music cd's ; I have just waisted an enormous amount of money and endless potential that I have no clue that item can display. Ignorance is bliss.

And this includes ALL die-hard religious people.

reply to post by General.Lee

Originally posted by General.Lee
Just another attempt to insult Believers.

I didn't know that all religious people in the world were 'born-again' individuals.

Every notice that non-believers find it necessary to demean, slander and insult believers?

No, we really don't tend to do that. We insult the beliefs, we ridicule them all the time. But insult believers? Not really. We might accurately describe certain believers as being 'ignorant' when they clearly are (as is the case with most creationists), but slander?

It is an attempt by atheists to justify their position and stroke their ego.

I love how this is all just a single long insult that actually ignores the thread. This isn't about atheists having bigger brains, it's about how there seems to be an odd correlation that shows that 'born-again' individuals have smaller brains in comparison to (and I quote from the OP/article):

The study, which examined the hippocampus region of the brain, found that Protestants who did not have a "born again" experience had significantly more gray matter than either those who reported a life-changing religious experience, Catholics, or unaffiliated older adults.

It's not believers vs non-believers, it's believers vs other believers.

Haha.... born-agains.... small brains. Funny.
Also, I heard that atheists are more likely to establish communist regimes that cause the deaths of millions in relatively short periods of time. Kinda makes the average religious fundamentalist look like small fry.

Is there any truth to this?

This thread will light up like a Christmas-tree soon enough. The idea seems plausible but still, no evidence behind it. Unless they release the "Study"s results. I will definitely be watching this one.