We’ve suspected this for a long time. The so called “Jerusalem syndrome” is a commonly known condition, where people with mental illness often believe that they are gods. The name comes from the fact that many of these people show up in the “holy land” ready to lead mankind into whatever crazy future they have in mind. They are quickly rounded up and placed in mental institutions.

It’s not just mental illness that can lead a person to religiosity. It can actually be the result of trauma to the brain. Specifically, a few sections that have notable influence on behavior. A new study has found a link that can predict the kind of fundamentalist you are:

Lesions associated with greater fundamentalism were connected to a specific brain network with nodes in the right orbitofrontal, dorsolateral prefrontal, and inferior parietal lobe…Lesions associated with confabulation and criminal behavior showed a similar connectivity pattern as lesions associated with greater fundamentalism. ..[L]esions associated with poststroke pain showed a similar connectivity pattern as lesions associated with lower fundamentalism.

Of course, there’s a dose of criminality mixed in as well. It doesn’t surprise me. Many of these people will happily murder anyone they dislike, sell drugs to funnel money to their organizations, and even kidnap people from other religious minorities to forcibly marry them. All of this is villainy of the highest order, but because it’s hiding under the cloak of religion, they can justify all of the evil thoughts they have in their head with the will of some higher power. It’s nothing more than the unleashed ego of maniacs, with brains that have stopped functioning properly.

It confirms many of the observations people have made about the sudden change in a person’s behavior. Just a few weeks ago I wrote about a redditor whose wife had a sudden a dramatic change in religiosity, much to his chagrined. A commenter remarked that it could be the result of an infection, which can have similar properties to brain legions.

IT all spells a pretty dark future for mankind. So long as working brain fail, and religious trash litters our culture, it doesn’t look like we’ll ever really lose the fundamentalist streak in us. Are we cursed to be messed up forever, or can we catch the signs of this type of behavior and nip it in the butt before it’s too late? So long as religious institutions exist with their unlimited funds and obedient slaves, I put my money on never.