Why Do People Believe in Miracles?

People have always believed in miracles, but why? Scientists are now trying to figure this out.

A Miracle in Rhode Island

In 2007, a baby in Rhode Island was born very early and had serious health problems. The doctor prayed to a priest who had passed away long ago, and the baby's heart started beating again. Eighteen years later, the Pope said this was a miracle.

The Vatican's Role

The Vatican has a special group that looks into miracles. They need to prove that a person did two miracles that science can't explain.

Scientific Research on Miracles

Scientists like Jordan Grafman are studying miracles in a different way. He wants to know how the brain works when people believe in miracles.

What Are Miracles?

Grafman thinks miracles are events that people believe were caused by something supernatural. He is not trying to prove that God exists. Instead, he wants to see how the brain works when people believe in miracles.

The Brain and Belief

Grafman has talked to many people who believe in miracles and found that many of them have experienced health-related miracles.

He has also studied the brains of people who have been in wars. He found that people with damage in certain parts of the brain were more likely to have strong religious beliefs. He thinks that miracles might be connected to the placebo effect, where belief can cause real changes in the body.

Future Research

Grafman is going to do more research on miracles. He will ask more people about their beliefs and then use brain scans to see what happens in their brains when they think about miracles. He thinks that believing in miracles might be similar to having strong political beliefs.

The Vatican's Scientific Approach

The Vatican also uses science to study miracles. They look at medical records and other evidence to make sure that a miracle really happened. But as science learns more, it is harder to prove that something is a miracle.