In the San Francisco Chronicle, David Ian Miller interviews Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania and co-author of a recently released a book titled How God Changes Your Brain:

When you talk about the effects of religious beliefs or activities on the brain, that’s a very broad spectrum of possibilities to consider. Does it matter what you believe or what sort of practices you’re doing?

The particular beliefs and practices are very important. One major point is the difference between having a loving and compassionate view of God versus a God that is vengeful, angry, and exclusive. We know from other research that if you focus your mind on positive emotions, and if you have an optimistic outlook, then that is going to activate the areas of your brain that help you lower stress, which helps you to function better and ultimately to be healthier physically and mentally. And if you focus on a God that’s angry and vengeful, that activates the anger centers of your brain, the strong emotional centers, which creates stress and anxiety. When that happens, your body releases hormones that can actually damage the way your brain functions which fosters more negative emotions and negative behaviors outwardly. That can be destructive both for the individual as well as on society as a whole.

Read the entire interview here.