Dr. Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania, said humans may be wired to believe in a higher power. Newberg and his research team studied Franciscan nuns, Tibetan Buddhists and Pentecostal Christians speaking in tongues and found that similar parts of the brain are always activated when participants think about religious activities, CNN reported. “When we think of religious and spiritual beliefs and practices, we see a tremendous similarity across practices and across tradition,” said Newberg, who once studied the brain from a neurological and psychiatric perspective. Because the same areas of the brain are affected during prayer and meditation, he says humans are built to believe in God. Some Christians have said Newberg’s research confirms what was already believed and that it would only make sense that God would create humans with a way to communicate with Him. Newberg's work to track the relationship between the human brain and spirituality is part of a new field that is being called neurotheology.
