Unbelievable? 17 Jul 2010 - Wired for God? The Biology of Spiritual Experience

Unbelievable?

Premier Unbelievable?

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.7 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 23 June 2014

⏱️ 82 minutes

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Summary

From shamanism, hallucenogenic drugs, out-of-body experiences, to being "filled with the Spirit". Christian author and barrister Charles Foster draws on these and many more to examine the biological evidence of what happens when people claim supernatural experiences. Is there room left for God? Yes, says Foster, whose own experience of the Holy Spirit led him to research why our brains seem to be wired for God to communicate with us. Susan Blackmore is an atheist and Professor of Psychology. She reveals how her own 'Out of Body Experience' as a student led to research that ultimately convinced her that no "supernatural" activity is needed to account for these type of phenomena. They debate the issues, including whether Consciousness itself can be given a naturalistic explanation. For Charles Foster see http://www.charlesfoster.co.uk/ To buy "Wired for God?" visit http://www.amazon.co.uk or click here For Sue Blackmore see http://www.susanblackmore.co.uk/ To buy "Consciousness: An introduction" visit http://www.amazon.co.uk or click here For more Christian/non Christian debate visit http://www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable or get the podcast at http://ondemand.premier.org.uk/unbelievable/AudioFeed.aspx or Via Itunes If you enjoyed this programme you may also enjoy: Unbelievable? 27 Mar 2010 - Former atheists conversion experiences - Is it evidence for God? Richard Morgan & Todd Pitner with atheist Gordon Livesey Unbelievable? 23 Aug 2008 - Why there almost certainly IS a God: Keith Ward and Robert Stovold Join the discussion at the "Unbelievable?" group of the Premier Community http://www.premiercommunity.org.uk/group/unbelievable

Transcript

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0:00.0	We turned to God and prayed. My dad committed his life to Jesus.
0:04.4	She danced in worship with members of the... My mom came to faith as my dad's...
0:08.0	God had answered our prayers. Glory to God. God answers prayer.
0:12.0	Be a visible witness.
0:15.0	Share your answered prayer.
0:17.0	Every brick in the eternal wall of answered prayer
0:20.0	represents a story of hope. answered prayer
0:27.0	dot org.
0:30.0	well welcome along to unbelievable this Saturday afternoon, the show that gets Christians and non-Christians together for fascinating discussions and debates every week here on Premier Christian radio.
0:40.0	And perhaps you're listening not this afternoon on a Saturday, but in
0:43.7	instead to our podcast that's available to anyone at premier.org.
0:48.1	UK.
0:49.9	Unbelievable. We have a very loyal and growing podcast listenership so if you're listening that way
0:55.6	Welcome along to the program. I think you're going to be as fascinated in today's topic as I have been
1:01.0	You're unbelievable. The topic today is the biology of spiritual experience.
1:08.0	Charles Foster is my studio guest today.
1:11.0	He's a barrister and writer, writes on all kinds of different subjects, but has been
1:15.2	looking at the whole aspect of whether we're Wired for God, and that's the name of his
1:19.6	latest book, Wired for God, question mark. Things like out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences,
1:25.3	the kind of psychedelic trips of drug users. What does this tell us about spiritual,
1:31.0	religious experiences, about what happens in the brain.
1:34.0	Well we're going to be in conversation today with atheist guest Susan Blackmore.
	...

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