Religious ideation and delusion have long been part of the symptomatology of individuals with schizophrenia. Most of the collective research energy in this area has been focused on the way religion informs the experience and treatment of schizophrenia, but little has been done to explore the implications of the relationship between religion and schizophrenia for our understanding of religion. The ability of individuals with schizophrenia to tap into the spiritual realm and to experience the divine via hallucination, delusion, and anomalous perceptual experiences may be one of the unique societal contributions of schizophrenia that has led to its persistence across races, continents, and a common genetic ancestry. To the extent that we can understand the biological and neurological substrates of religious delusion and ideation in schizophrenia, we may develop unique insights into the biological and evolutionary nature of religion. This chapter will therefore (a) highlight the biological, neurological, and clinical substrates of schizophrenia; (b) review research from neuroimaging and psychology to explore the relationship between schizophrenia and religion, including the strong use of religious coping in this population and the role of the frontal, parietal, and temporolimbic systems in religious delusions; and finally, (c) discuss the implications of religious delusions and schizophrenia for the biology, evolutionary underpinnings, and psychology of religion. Ideally, this will illustrate how the phenomenology of schizophrenia and its confluence with religion may inform our current understandings of religion.
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