The golden rule of journalism decrees that reporters take nothing on faith, back up every story with hard evidence, and question everything. NPR’s religion correspondent Barbara Bradley Hagerty kept that rule in mind when she decided to explore the science of spirituality. She was searching for answers to the questions: Is spiritual experience real or a delusion? What happens when we pray? And does consciousness depend on the brain, or can it operate when the brain doesn’t.
Weekend Edition Sunday host Liane Hansen talks with Hagerty about her research and what she discovered while writing her new book, Fingerprints of God.
Objective reporting from NPR? I’ll believe that when I hear it. It’s slick first class propaganda.