Did Man Create God?: Is Your Spiritual Brain at Peace With Your Thinking Brain?

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 694 pages
• Published by: Hope Pr
• Edition: 1st Edition April 2, 2008
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1878267728
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1878267726
• Book Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Weighs: 2 pounds

Product Review
The scientific attempt to explain religion has been around for over a century, but only recently has it exploded into the cultural scene with the renewed interest in the relationship of science and religion, and particularly with the advance in the neurosciences. It now appears that we are getting close to understanding what is going on inside the religious mind, and David Comings has written a remarkable analysis, that includes the most detailed and up-to-date science ever generated on the subject of religion. Did Man Create God? will be the definitive scientific reference on religion for some time to come. --Michael Shermer, Publisher of Skeptic magazine monthly columnist for Scientific American, and the author of Why Darwin Matters, The Science of Good and Evil, and How We Believe.

Product Description
Unlike recent popular books that call for the end of faith and religion, this book by Dr. David Comings, an internationally renown physician, human geneticist and neuroscientist, proposes that spirituality is genetically hardwired into a specific part of the brain, is pleasurable, is critical to the evolution and survival of man, and will never go away.
The primary goal of the book is to allow the reader to develop a rational spirituality in which their thinking brain and spiritual brain can live in peace. A basic assumption of most humans is that God created man and divinely influenced the writing of all his sacred books. This book dispassionately explores the possibility that in premodern times our rational brain created the theory of a personal God to answer questions about the physical world like Where did we come from? and Where do we go when we die? and to satisfy the transcendent yearnings of our spiritual brain. To add believability and authority to our sacred books the rational brain man also proposed that God ultimately wrote these works. In an era when politicians are judged on the basis of the strength of their belief in God, when schools are urged to teach Intelligent Design, and when religious terrorists threaten the existence of Western civilization it is critical to dispassionately examine the question Did God Create Man or Did Man Create God?
The book looks at a wide range of issues including intelligent answers to intelligent design; the relevance of modern cosmology to the existence or non-existence of god; the role of genes in spirituality; the evolution of spirituality; innate morality; the role of psychedelics in the development of man s religions; the positive and negative aspects of religion; the problem of evil and many others. The longest chapter, The Spiritual Brain (58 pages), looks at the evidence for the role of the temporal lobes in man s innate spirituality. Combined these chapters indicate that humans are inherently happy and good, independent of religion, and that spirituality played a critical role in the evolution and survival of man. A feeling of being associated with something that transcends one s self became an important, rewarding, comforting, and innate part of the human condition. Michael Shermer called this the most detailed and up-to-date science ever generated on the subject of religion and suggested it will be the definitive scientific reference on religion for some time to come.
The world recently learned that Mother Theresa had life-long doubts about her faith. This book is for others who have also questioned any part of their faith but treasure their spirituality and want answers that are not hostile to religion.
A summary of the book asks whether our thinking brain is incompatible with religion and faith. It is concluded that for some belief systems the rational and spiritual brains are totally compatible, for some they are compatible with only minor qualifications and for some they are compatible but with major qualifications. However, a belief that the sacred books are literally true, that one sacred book is better than another, that one God is better than another, and that one religion is better than another provides a situation in which the rational thinking brain and the spiritual brain are totally incompatible.
Dr. Comings concludes that religious intolerance, wars and terrorism are based on irrational spirituality where there is an incompatibility between the rational and spiritual brain, where individuals believe that one human being s God is better than another s. By contrast a rational spirituality allows individuals of all religions to live in peace. This book is a potentially life changing read for anyone who has ever had doubts about their faith or religion but wanted responses

Reader Reviews
This review is from: Did Man Create God? Is Your Spiritual Brain at Peace with Your Thinking Brain? (Hardcover) One of the problems with the our culture is that it is now so easy to fine tune what we are exposed to. We can watch TV news slanted to our already held political beliefs (CNN or Fox?). We can careful craft an iPod program so that we're never exposed to a rap ditty because we're so sure there isn't even one we'd like. We do the same on the net. Many have discarded their newspaper, for heaven's sake, in favor of chery picking the news we want to hear. "Did Man Create God?" is precisely for those of us who do that (and we all do to a certain extent, don't we?). It gives a reader everything to examine and re-examine their existing belief system. If we believe in a traditional God then most likely we believe God gave us a brain to think and make decisions. This is the book for that. It is crammed full of good stuff. Philosophy. Biology. Theories. History. Illustrations. Even little summaries in red to help a person skim through what he knows, delve deeper into what he may want (or needs!) to know. In short, Dr. David E. Comings has written a book to help us understand ourselves and our universe. The science and details and clear-headed fair approach is perfect for those who want to cut through the spiritual babble available to us to get the facts and make up our own minds. That, after all, is what God gave us brains to do, right? Or did I already say that. ---- Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson award-winning author of This Is The Place, an award-winning novel about five generations of hardy Utah women. Each learned to think about their lives and their religion in a different way depending on the time they lived and influenced by the place they lived. The story is based on the author's own geneology including her polygamist ancestors.