The Marriage of Neurocience and Religion

John Gravino is a Catholic author who explores the intersection of health and religion and other big questions of life. He is the author of The Immoral Landscape of the New Atheism, which was the topic of a health and spirituality seminar at Duke Medical School. In his book, Gravino argues that the real problem with the world is not religion but human nature, and the problem with our human nature is located in our minds. The key to making the world a better place, therefore, depends on the healing of the human mind. But how can this be accomplished? The world of science has been amazingly successful in so many areas, but the one glaring exception to the nearly flawless track record of the sciences is in the study of mental disorder. While science has been able to find cures for so many physical diseases, a cure for mental illness has proven elusive. John Gravino offers an explanation. Science is unable to cure the mind because the mind is a fundamentally different organism. The human mind is spiritual, not physical; and thus, it obeys the spiritual laws of the universe. If you want to make the world a better place, Gravino argues that getting rid of religion—the true source of the spiritual laws of the universe—is the worst thing you can do. Gravino presents his case, based on evidence from recent advances in neuroscience, that the only thing that can save the world is true religion because only true religion has the power to heal the human mind. John is also the author of Confronting The Pope Of Suspicion, now available in paperback.