"God Gene"

Get a load of this! Recent research linked with the 'Gay gene' project has uncovered the existence of a 'God Gene', which helps control the brain and can influence whether you believe in God! I'll paste the article, since it's on a pay site...

Religious belief is determined by a person's genetic make-up according to a study by a leading scientist.

After comparing more than 2,000 DNA samples, an American molecular geneticist has concluded that a person's capacity to believe in God is linked to brain chemicals.

His findings were criticised last night by leading clerics, who challenge the existence of a "god gene" and say that the research undermines a fundamental tenet of faith - that spiritual enlightenment is achieved through divine transformation rather than the brain's electrical impulses.

Dr Dean Hamer, the director of the Gene Structure and Regulation Unit at the National Cancer Institute in America, asked volunteers 226 questions in order to determine how spiritually connected they felt to the universe. The higher their score, the greater a person's ability to believe in a greater spiritual force and, Dr Hamer found, the more likely they were to share the gene, VMAT2.

Studies on twins showed that those with this gene, a vesicular monoamine transporter that regulates the flow of mood-altering chemicals in the brain, were more likely to develop a spiritual belief.

Growing up in a religious environment was said to have little effect on belief. Dr Hamer, who in 1993 claimed to have identified a DNA sequence linked to male homosexuality, said the existence of the "god gene" explained why some people had more aptitude for spirituality than others.

"Buddha, Mohammed and Jesus all shared a series of mystical experiences or alterations in consciousness and thus probably carried the gene," he said. "This means that the tendency to be spiritual is part of genetic make-up. This is not a thing that is strictly handed down from parents to children. It could skip a generation - it's like intelligence."

His findings, published in a book, The God Gene: How Faith Is Hard-Wired Into Our Genes, were greeted sceptically by many in the religious establishment.

The Rev Dr John Polkinghorne, a fellow of the Royal Society and a Canon Theologian at Liverpool Cathedral, said: "The idea of a god gene goes against all my personal theological convictions. You can't cut faith down to the lowest common denominator of genetic survival. It shows the poverty of reductionist thinking."

The Rev Dr Walter Houston, the chaplain of Mansfield College, Oxford, and a fellow in theology, said: "Religious belief is not just related to a person's constitution; it's related to society, tradition, character - everything's involved. Having a gene that could do all that seems pretty unlikely to me."

Dr Hamer insisted, however, that his research was not antithetical to a belief in God. He pointed out: "Religious believers can point to the existence of god genes as one more sign of the creator's ingenuity - a clever way to help humans acknowledge and embrace a divine presence."

-Daily Telegraph

Could this prove or disprove God's existence? Why only make some people believe in Him, or maybe He doesn't exist and has been in our heads all along, thanks to this gene...I want to know whether this gene is present in animals, such as monkeys.

Could this prove or disprove God's existence? Why only make some people believe in Him, or maybe He doesn't exist and has been in our heads all along, thanks to this gene...I want to know whether this gene is present in animals, such as monkeys.

Strange i never thought God might be a gene...damn is there anything that isnt related to a gene in some way? It would be very strange if animals had a God gene.

Hmmm...

What about this:

Maybe a belief in a higher power mutates the DNA and, wallah...

...you now have a God gene!

They can't prove it otherwise can they

hmmmm...i wonder how a gene can cause different strengths of faith in different people...

I was thinking about what was said here on this thread, and I thought if this GOD gene is true then maybe it is proof that GOD does exist in a sense,as it would prove either GOD DID make us in his own way, and as time went on, our GENE;s changed.

I had seen this sometime ago, I wanted to post it, but didnt want to seem like I had an agenda. I do think that this is a type of proof. There needs to be more.

Also I think no matter what proof is found, strong god fearing people, will still fear good, no matter the proof.

Covered here:
The God Gene: Is God in our Genes?





seekerof

Sorry I missed it the first time. I will be sure to read your take.

Originally posted by TheRenegade
Growing up in a religious environment was said to have little effect on belief.

My father and step-mother used to force religious crap on me...
I would never buy into it. That explains why they (along with every other religious person I've ever met) are near fanatical with their faith...

I'm so glad I don't have that gene...

maybe it makes sense since some people have or claim to have psychic abilities. Maybe the spiritual and psychic are both genetic. I have heard that in order to get strong psychic people, selective breeding would need to take place, but the inter-breeding of people has slowly reduced our psychic abilities.

A correlation between genes and belief in god. Great, finally I will have a good argument against my philosophy teacher.