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Did Man Create God? Is Your Spiritual Brain at Peace with Your Thinking Brain?

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The obvious answer to the not so rhetorical question in the title is yes, of course. Comings however gives a most complete and thoroughly convincing answer in 694 carefully considered pages. The book left this reader a bit in awe of not only his erudition, energy and competence, but most impressed with his generosity of spirit in tackling the project in such a thorough manner. The deeper question of whether God exists independently of man's creation is of course another question entirely, and not one that I think anybody can answer, and certainly Comings does not attempt to do so. He writes:

"...[T]he questions 'Did Man Create God?' or 'Is the Theory of God a man-made theory?' are fundamentally different from the question 'Does God Exist?' It is perfectly possible that the answer to the question, 'Did Man Create God?' is 'Yes,' and yet a God, different than the one man made, still exists." (p. 640)

Dr. Comings makes it clear however that such gods as depicted in the Bible and other religious works, gods that bring havoc upon the world and intercede in human affairs, answering or not answer prayers, defeating or not defeating enemies, etc., are, by their very nature, obvious projections of the human mind. One the reasons that Comings went to the considerable trouble to produce this rather remarkable tome is to remove any doubt on that score. The evidence he presents from a wide range of disciplines is all but overwhelming.

In addition to being a physician, Dr. Comings is also a neuroscientist and a molecular geneticist. A good portion of this book is devoted to applying knowledge gleaned from neuroscience and genetics to the question "Did Man Create God?" Additionally Comings brings evidence from evolution, history and philosophy to "provide strong evidence that man made up the Theory of God in an attempt to explain how the universe, the earth, and man were created." (p. 642) Comings shows how God is maintained in our brains and in human society because belief in God has proven adaptive in the Darwinian sense and efficacious psychologically in the sense that God is the answer to all the unanswerables, and as such, is essential to humanity's mental homeostasis.

To maintain this dualism, however, Comings sees humans as having a split consciousness. He writes: "One of the central themes of this book is the remarkable ability of man to possess both a rational brain that critically analyzes and assesses all...important questions and a spiritual brain that does not care much about facts and just plunges ahead with its need to find the transcendent, to rise above mere mortality, and to connect with an all-encompassing spiritual presence." (p. 642)

Belief in God can be seen as part of a spiritual dimension to human existence. However I would say that belief in the sort of God that would reward mass killings with sexual fun in heaven with many virgins is not spiritual at all, but is instead a kind of bestial expression of human politics and the war system. In contrast, a desire to transcend the reality of mortal flesh is what is spiritual. Comings demonstrates that genetically and neurologically, this spirituality is what is hardwired into our brains and not a specific belief in God or gods. He writes: "Spirituality can be defined as a feeling of a connection with something greater than oneself including any form of social order. Perhaps the greatest factor in the evolution of spirituality is that such a trait would maximize the development of man as a social animal." (p. 530)

Most books exceeding 600 pages have proven in my experience to be too long and in need of reduction. Dr. Comings' book is the exception. He writes long because he writes thoroughly with a keen desire to make an irrefutable case. I believe he has succeeded admirably. Some of the material he covers is difficult, but he writes in such a clear and engaging manner that we are marvelously informed. Additionally the text is adorned and augmented with numerous color prints, drawings, tables, photos, graphs and other artwork. The entire book is printed on expensive glossy paper so that it weighs 2.65 pounds. (Yes, I weighed it.) This is indeed a magnum opus, a fitting testament to all that Dr. Comings has learned in a lifetime of study and practice.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. If only--if only!--this book were required reading for all of humankind how much better we would understand ourselves and others, and how so much of the hatred, prejudice, plain ignorance and stupidity that characterizes human affairs and leads to untold amounts of pain and suffering would dissipate like the wisps of a bad dream.

Soon humanity (at least those who can read) will be divided into three types: The informed who have read and (perhaps with minor qualifications) accept the book's conclusions, the denialists who have read yet refuse to accept its conclusions (and who may, in vain, attempt to refute it), and the ignorant who have not read it, either through personal refusal or suppression by others. Unfortunately, the countries whose citizens are in dire need to learn of this book's content and conclusions will most probably ban it.

I will not repeat what others have written. Yes, the book does contain some typos, but all considered (including an abundance of graphs, diagrams and colourful plates) it is an absolute steal at the price. Yes, it does get quite technical at times but it covers an incredibly wide field of knowledge, and as nobody can possibly be an expert on every topic it needs to be technical. And yes, close on 700 pages of densely filled, narrow-margin pages do take a little dedication to get through but it is exceptionally clearly written, easy to follow and printed on quality paper. It deserves to be read, re-read and recommended to everyone on this planet.

And most of all, you don't absolutely have to read every word. Just reading the handful of red-text summaries per chapter, usually less than half a page at a time, plus the 18-page summary at the end, quite possible in a single sitting, is enough to grasp the beauty of the author's central argument, the scope and thoroughness of his research, the value of the book and the astonishing effort that must have gone into its research and writing. One can always go back and fill in the detail as time and energy allows.

There certainly are other valuable books on religion out there (many of them in my library), but Dr Comings has probably written the definitive introduction and informed layperson's reference to the human phenomenon called religion.

Did man Create God? will no doubt soon become an authorative reference on human religion, epitomising the "Aha!"-moment in mankind's understanding of God. Even if it should fail to break new scientific ground it must be appreciated for its sheer jaw-dropping comprehensiveness, simplicity and quality of argument.

THANK YOU Dr Comings for producing such a thorough, comprehensive, satisfying and easy to read analysis of religion. You must be (pardon the pun) one hell of a person. We owe you.

As many of us did, David E. Comings discovered at an early age, that God had to be man made, otherwise, among many other reasons, why did others act so violently towards those who did not share their belief in him? And indeed, why if it were the reverse, that God made man, did He allow so much evil to exist in the world and refuse to answer our prayers?

This author has put together an immensely useful and helpful book for those who may have developed questions about their childhood beliefs, or who may still have doubts about various elements of their own religious faith, or who may just want to be better informed about the changes in science that increasingly are beginning to have a bearing on their beliefs.

In what can only be considered a scientific tour de force (as well as a tour de horizon), the author covers both the history and the science of God in a straight forward common sense fashion -- that is to say, devoid of scientific jargon. This especially applies to the theory of evolution, intelligent design and creationism (where he engages the debate head-on); as well as to understanding the structure of the brain and certain aspects of genetics that as a direct result of evolution, bear directly on the question of why we believe in gods in the first place. But the bonus of the book is that the author goes even further: into the Cosmology resulting from science, physics in particular. Here he gives more than just a layman's tutorial on the new physics, covering with great skill the implications the "Big Bang theory, relativity, quantum physics and string theory, among others.

Dr. Comings is himself a scientist who does not believe in god but has no particular axe to grind in this regard. He lays out the facts, as they are, not just to defend his own beliefs or to challenge those of others, but to explain why he believes there is no contradiction between man's belief in god (as irrational as that may seem to non-believers) and the science of neurology that may in fact support the "reasons" for such beliefs. And while I have read a lot in this area, I have not witnessed a more level-headed and clear presentation of both scientific and historical facts bearing on both sides of the arguments for and against the idea of God being man made. This book is a fine tribute to the adage that "we may learn to disagree without being disagreeable."

The crux of his argument rests on recent discoveries in neuroscience which suggests rather strongly that unsubstantiated beliefs, do indeed have survival value and have therefore been a part of the evolutionary process of our brain's development. So much so that our human brains have retained structures that apparently have been "genetically selected" based on this "faith-based" or "spiritual" survival component? One may quibble about how valuable such a genetic quality has been in promoting man's survival; however, a consensus is emerging that this is no longer just fanciful thinking, but is rapidly becoming accepted scientific fact.

The author's step-by-step carefully indexed discussions of all the scientific topics are sweeping and captivating; and it must be said, also always first rate. For instance, both his detailed discussion of the intricacies of evolution as well as the Cosmology behind the "Big Bang" Theory, including both Relativity and Quantum physics, is certainly alone worth the price of the book. However, to be able to confidently place them all in the context of our cultural and religious history and beliefs as he does, is a singular achievement that even Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris or Daniel Dennett were unable to do, and thus alone deserves five stars as a minimum.

I would have given 4 1/2 stars if I could. The book needs some major proofreading for typos. Otherwise, a very well written book covering current understandings of biology, cosmology (one member of our book club countered this section with Plasma Theory studies), neuroscience and genetic research. With so much new scientific information coming out almost daily, it is very hard to keep up. This book does a very good job of building a scientific framework for what we currently know about ourselves in dealing with our species' need for a sublime/awe experience in our lives. Dr. Comings calls this our Spiritual Brain.

Religion plays a huge part of everyone's lives, irregardless of if they attend a church, synagogue, or mosque - but is it interfering too much with the sensible thought of the world? "Did Man Create God?: Is Your Spiritual Brain At Peace with Your Thinking Brain?" believes so, but keeps a spiritual stance throughout its questioning of the world's faith - stating that spirituality is a hard wired part of the brain of humanity. An objective look at religion as a whole, it tackles all concerns and issues with religion such as fundamentalism and barriers to social progress. "Did Man Create God?: Is Your Spiritual Brain at Peace with Your Thinking Brain?" is highly recommended for community library collections dedicated to religious studies of all sorts.

This book explains a lot of things I couldn't understand but had observed to be true, like the reasons for the similarity of near death experiences and why bright scientific minded men still believed and often held what I considered to be juvenile attitudes about religion. I particularly liked the authors explanation of the cloud around God being really the shape of the human brain in the famous Sistine Chapel painting of God & Adam. Very complex descriptions of the brain and it functions but a great reference book on many human behaviours.

As someone that is currently questioning their faith, I found this book extremely though provoking as well as highly entertaining. I would think that quite a bit of the science would be over the average person's head, but the summaries that the author provides really help. Overall I would definitely recommend this book for anyone interested in the science of religion.

The knowledge of the author really shines through in his writing. I appreciated the fact that he went into such detail about things. I love the book but I'm not sure it's meant for everyone because of all those details. Luckily the author has also included easy to digest summaries throughout the text that allow you to skim over those areas that you may only wish to review or just aren't that interested in. Well thought out book, and well executed presentation of the material.

I think this book should be required reading for all who think some one is watching over us and and that we must do exactly what their religious tenets are. If they were to understand the source of their beliefs, perhaps we would have a safer world, fewer(perhaps no) wars, and certainly more openminded tolerance. The book is very well researched, organized in a logical manner and Dr. Comings conclusion are rational. This is about the only book I haved actually planned to reread!

One of the problems with the our culture is that it is now so easy to fine tune what we are exposed to. We can watch TV news slanted to our already held political beliefs (CNN or Fox?). We can careful craft an iPod program so that we're never exposed to a rap ditty because we're so sure there isn't even one we'd like. We do the same on the net. Many have discarded their newspaper, for heaven's sake, in favor of chery picking the news we want to hear.

"Did Man Create God?" is precisely for those of us who do that (and we all do to a certain extent, don't we?). It gives a reader everything to examine and re-examine their existing belief system.

If we believe in a traditional God then most likely we believe God gave us a brain to think and make decisions. This is the book for that. It is crammed full of good stuff. Philosophy. Biology. Theories. History. Illustrations. Even little summaries in red to help a person skim through what he knows, delve deeper into what he may want (or needs!) to know.

In short, Dr. David E. Comings has written a book to help us understand ourselves and our universe. The science and details and clear-headed fair approach is perfect for those who want to cut through the spiritual babble available to us to get the facts and make up our own minds. That, after all, is what God gave us brains to do, right? Or did I already say that.
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Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson award-winning author of This Is The Place,