Prayer, Tongues and Brain Scans

Recent advances in neuroscience and brain-imaging technology have offered researchers a look into the physiology of religious experiences.

In observing Buddhist monks as they meditate, Franciscan nuns as they pray and Pentecostals as they speak in tongues, Dr. Andrew Newberg, a radiologist at the University of Pennsylvania, has found that measurable brain activity matches up with the religious experiences described by worshippers. The social, political and religious implications of these and other findings are just beginning to permeate the broader culture, according to New York Times columnist David Brooks, who has been tracking new developments in the field.

- What does brain science add to age-old debates about the existence of God and the value of religion?
- Can political parties and religious groups use scientific insights to influence the beliefs of others?
- Are scientists as a group becoming more open to ideas of religion and spirituality?

Some of the nation's leading journalists gathered in Key West, Fla., in May 2008 for the Pew Forum's biannual Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics and public life.

Click here for the full transcript plus brain imaging and some nice visual illusions