As other people have pointed out this experiment doesn't invalidate religious experience, it just points out that 'spiritual experiences' have a mechanistic connection in the brain.
My speculation is that the commonly associated heightened sense of significance is a way to lay down long term memory.
One common feature of people's religious experiences is that the memory of them lasts - even though they may be attached to pretty ordinary events.
Furthermore, this state in the brain could be just an extreme version of something that is a normal brain function happening all the time. The case of epilepsy induced religious experiences would suggest this is the case.
I expect that what I have written is unoriginal and seems mundane. Certainly there is more to it, but maybe not much more.
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As other people have pointed out this experiment doesn't invalidate religious experience, it just points out that 'spiritual experiences' have a mechanistic connection in the brain.
My speculation is that the commonly associated heightened sense of significance is a way to lay down long term memory. One common feature of people's religious experiences is that the memory of them lasts - even though they may be attached to pretty ordinary events.
Furthermore, this state in the brain could be just an extreme version of something that is a normal brain function happening all the time. The case of epilepsy induced religious experiences would suggest this is the case.
I expect that what I have written is unoriginal and seems mundane. Certainly there is more to it, but maybe not much more.