Does advanced technology mean loss of spirituality?: Not that you would notice

John J. DiIulio, Jr. notes in a recent article,

Most countries once ruled, in whole or in part, by Europeans have modernized to varying degrees, but without religion losing its hold. Christianity, in particular, is growing in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. One cannot begin to understand post-colonial Africa, for example, without knowing how profoundly religion matters--and which religions matter where and to whom. Nigeria is one small case in point. There are now about 20 million Anglicans in Nigeria, on the way to 30 to 35 million over the next generation. In 1900, Nigeria was one-third Muslim and had almost no Christians. By 1970, the country was about 45 percent Muslim and 45 percent Christian.
Outside of Nigeria, Anglicanism is hardly the wave of the future, but Pentecostalism and other charismatic varieties of Christianity might be. Throughout the 20th century, various Pentecostal sects crept or swept through Latin America and Africa. In each continent, Pentecostals are now an estimated one-tenth to one-fifth of the population. In Asia, Pentecostals now number well over 150 million, with concentrations in places like South Korea.

That completely contradicts the pundits of yesteryear. It also likely means that the anti-God crusade is going nowhere on a fast train.

Toronto-based Canadian journalist Denyse O'Leary (www.designorchance.com) is the author of the multiple award-winning By Design or by Chance? (Augsburg Fortress 2004), an overview of the intelligent design controversy, and of Faith@Science. She was named CBA Canada's Recommended Author of the Year in 2005 and is co-author, with Montreal neuroscientist Mario Beauregard, of the forthcoming The Spiritual Brain: A neuroscientist's case for the existence of the soul (Harper 2007).

Spirituality: Speaking in tongues

Here's a mostly reasonable article on Andrew Newberg's work. Newberg, author of The Biology of Belief: Why God Won't Go Away , has studied Franciscan nuns and tibetan monks during meditation. Here's another of his interesting studies:

In one study, Newberg and colleagues used imaging technology to look at the brains of Pentecostal Christians speaking in tongues _ known scientifically as glossolalia _ then looked at their brains when they were singing gospel music. They found that those practicing glossolalia showed decreased activity in the brain's language center, compared with the singing group.

The imaging results are suggestive of people's description that they do not have control of their own speech when speaking in tongues. Newberg said scientists believe that speech is taken over by another part of the brain during glossolalia, but did not find it during the study.

Now, I have observed speaking in tongues (glossolalia) at revival meetings, and have not noticed that the people who can do it are (necessarily) unusual or mentally troubled or under the control of a cult. Advice for those who are looking for a really simple explanation: Keep looking and be very, very patient, and do not let disappointment cause you to reevaluate your thesis unless an open mind is important to you.
(Note: My lack of experience with unusual spiritual phenomena is despite the fact that a recent Toronto Star article referred to me as a fundamentalist author. As a matter of fact, I am a Roman Catholic (since 2005) and was formerly an Anglican (Episcopalian), not what most people would think of as a fundamentalist. The article has since been corrected on line but the detritus of the dead trees continues to show this error, as do some materialist atheist Web sites.

When I discovered the error, I joked to the reporter that "Fr. Martin and Fr. Jonathan [at my RC church in Toronto] will undoubtedly think it a great joke," and remarked to friends that "Given that they have seen fit to correct the error, I can now send those blasted hooded pit vipers back to Petco, and quit trying to learn fundamentalist snake handling." None too soon, I am sure.

Next book! The Spiritual Brain: A neuroscientist's case for the existence of the soul (Mario Beauregard and Denyse O'Leary, Harper August 2007).