| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"The Curse Of The Clayton People" |
| Date: |
14 Mar 2005 12:26:51 AM |
| Object: |
Does Theism Help You Cope With Torture? Let's Find Out!!! |
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0%2C3858%2C5101061-103690%2C00.html
Scientists hunt the ghost in the machine
Ian Sample, science correspondent
Wednesday January 12, 2005
Guardian
Scientists at Oxford University are to torture people in laboratories in an
experiment to see whether a belief in God is effective at relieving pain.
The scientists will apply a chilli-based gel to the skin of volunteers and
ask them to try different strategies to lessen the burning sensation,
including asking people with strong religious beliefs to draw on their faith
to cope with the pain.
The experiment is one in a series that sees scientists join forces with
philosophers, theologians and brain surgeons to tackle some of the most
profound questions of the human condition: what is the nature of
consciousness and how do religious beliefs manifest themselves in our
brains?
The Oxford Centre for Science of the Mind will be led by the neuroscientist
Lady Greenfield. "I believe the time is now ripe for the machinery of
scientific method to come to bear on some of these questions," she said.
The study of consciousness and brain processes that give rise to strongly
held beliefs have for long been on the periphery of scientific research.
With the advent of techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging,
which can take snapshots of brain activity, scientists believe they can
obtain meaningful answers about how consciousness arises and what makes
belief systems so widespread and resilient.
The group will first assess claims about consciousness and religion,
including the suggestion that people with strong faith can use that to cope
with pain.
In one experiment, Toby Collins, deputy director of the centre, will use
anaesthetics and brain scanning equipment to investigate the boundary
between consciousness and unconsciousness. In another, Dr Collins's team
will use the chilli gel and ask volunteers to try to cope with the pain.
"We can ask them to try different beliefs, whether spiritual or otherwise.
People can cope with pain in many different ways and what we'll be doing is
looking at the activity in the brain."
The study could help to reveal how faith is represented in the brain. Other
projects will look into the conditions that make people susceptible to
strong yet irrational beliefs, such as the age people are exposed to certain
ideas and the frequency with which religious messages are reinforced.
The centre has been set up for an initial two years with a $2m (£1m) grant
from the US-based John Templeton Foundation, which promotes research into
theology and science.
"People are realising these are the most exciting questions that anyone can
ask," said Lady Greenfield. Understanding the basis of religious and other
types of belief could help to shed light on the surge in fundamentalism and
terrorism.
"One of the fundamental reasons why religious beliefs have to be taken
seriously ... is that they are potentially very dangerous, and that can be
true of other dogmatisms too," said John Brookes, professor of science and
religion at Oxford.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
--
Clayton The Lord Of The Eternally Changing Name
AA# 1861
EAC Executive Officer In Charge Of Squandering And Wasting Valuable
Resources
"Religion is like horse laxative....if you swallow it, you'll be left
feeling empty and have a huge pile of ***** to deal with!" - Clayton
.
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| User: "Ike" |
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| Title: Re: Does Theism Help You Cope With Torture? Let's Find Out!!! |
14 Mar 2005 08:41:10 AM |
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"The Curse Of The Clayton People" <cjfat@SPAMBLOCKphonymails.com> wrote in
message news:42352e3c$0$22218$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0%2C3858%2C5101061-103690%2C00.html
Scientists hunt the ghost in the machine
Ian Sample, science correspondent
Wednesday January 12, 2005
Guardian
Scientists at Oxford University are to torture people in laboratories in
an
experiment to see whether a belief in God is effective at relieving pain.
The scientists will apply a chilli-based gel to the skin of volunteers and
ask them to try different strategies to lessen the burning sensation,
including asking people with strong religious beliefs to draw on their
faith
to cope with the pain.
I don't see how there can be any scientific validity in such an experiment
because even people of the same sect of a religion will have different ways
of using it, and in different circumstances, and different places in the
heirarchy of the religion, for instance, minister layman, etc. But I don't
have all the details of the experiment.
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| User: "Secular Fundamentalist" |
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| Title: Re: Does Theism Help You Cope With Torture? Let's Find Out!!! |
14 Mar 2005 11:12:33 AM |
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It certainly helped Torquemada
--
David Silverman F.L.A.H.N.
aa #2208
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