whether you believe in 'god' or 'jesus' or 'buddha', you have the ability to believe, to think. That thought is a real thing, that cannot be measured as would anything else.
that ability is not tied to your body, or brain, it uses your body, brain to perceive reality. The 'consciousness zone' doesn't exist in your brain and is not generated by it. the thought is completely different from the body. It follows then that there are thoughts without bodies, immaterial beings without a material harness to this world. How then would we as material beings perceive immaterial beings? through religious experience. but since experience is open to interpretation, we as humans have the ability to get it wrong. it is the conundrum of spirituality.