by James Hughes

Created on: March 12, 2010

The Nature of Consciousness vs. Religious concepts.

A certain class of beings is claimed to exist by modern religion. These entities are described as being “purely spiritual.” This means that they are a type of consciousness, a mind, without a body. There are several creatures that have been described this way, among them God, the Devil, Angels, Demons, and even the human mind is explained by religion to exist independently of the brain in the form of the “immortal soul.” Indeed, this class of entities make up the foundations of religious thought. Without them the claims of religion in regards to human existence are baseless. But, consciousness is a specific attribute of individuals with certain, known properties. I will show that the nature of consciousness invalidates any claim to the existence of beings of “pure spirit”

 “Purely spiritual,” beings are claimed to be minds without a body, to include the absence of a brain.  Charnock writes “If we grant that God is, we must necessarily grant that he cannot be corporeal, because a body is of an imperfect nature. It will appear incredible to any that acknowledge God the first Being and Creator of all things, that he should be a massy, heavy body, and have eyes and ears, feet and hands, as we have (1).”  But, can the mind exist without the brain? The facts of the relationship between the mind and the brain are well known and easily demonstrable. What is the effect on the mind if one cuts off the blood supply to the brain, as opposed to if one cuts it off to an arm? In the case of the arm, one does not necessarily lose consciousness, but if the blood supply is cut off to the brain, a loss of consciousness is imminent. This fact demonstrates that the mind is inextricably tied, in fact derived from the brain. What is the effect on the mind if one introduces alcohol or drugs into the brains blood supply? The state of the mind is altered by these purely material elements. What is the effect on consciousness if the brain experiences blunt force trauma? If the arm or leg is destroyed, consciousness remains. Even the heart can be transplanted and yet the person's consciousness remains. When the brain is damaged, however, consciousness is altered, or goes out of existence all together temporarily, in the case of a “knock-out” or permanently, in the case of death. The idea of a consciousness separated from the brain contradicts observable

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