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Belief and Connection

We tend to think of beliefs as wisps of the mind that have no power in the material world. However, as Gary Berntson and Louise Hawkley have discussed, beliefs can affect our health even to the extent of determining life and death. As Tanya Luhrmann discusses, in some forms of Christianity, there is a real belief in the presence of God. This is not simply a belief of God in the world, but a belief of a God who is by one’s side. The idea of God as a friend and companion clearly motivates the desire to make such a presence manifest in tangible ways. For some, it is the sense of God with which they commune, for others it is what they believe to be a sensory experience of God that they seek. Luhrmann outlines how this belief, coupled with a supportive social structure, can lead to powerful personal experiences, such as hearing the voice of God, reflecting the operation of our social brains.

Our sense of social connection is not dependent on a single set of religious beliefs, however. In human social connections, we can form individual relationships with a spouse or friends but, as John Cacioppo outlined, there are other kinds of connections that our social brain seeks, as well. We seek connections with emergent structures such as groups, clubs, teams, congregations, and beyond. Kathryn Tanner argues that the belief that God created the world and bears causal responsibility for it serves to connect believers to life in a broader way than is provided through individual relationships. This broader connection to life does not depend on the manifestation of a presence to whom we can talk because the evidence of social connection is apparent in the very fabric of daily existence. Thus, whereas Luhrmann discusses God as a palpable friend that one can learn to attend to and experience as an active presence in one’s life, Tanner discusses God as the initiator of life and the very fabric of existence, a presence so ubiquitous that there is no specific point on which one can focus to attend to or experience God.

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