A Neural Network for Religious Fundamentalism Derived from Patients with Brain Lesions

Religious fundamentalism — characterized by rigid adherence to doctrines believed to be inerrant — is a globally prevalent phenomenon with significant societal consequences, yet its neurological basis has been largely unexplored. By applying lesion network mapping to two large, independent datasets of patients with focal brain damage, the authors identified a right-hemisphere functional network whose disruption is associated with higher levels of religious fundamentalism. This network overlaps with brain regions implicated in specific neuropsychiatric and behavioral conditions, suggesting shared neural substrates between fundamentalist cognition and broader patterns of rigid belief. The study offers the first evidence that the propensity for religious fundamentalism has a neuroanatomical basis, with implications for understanding how brain network integrity shapes belief formation and flexibility.