The God Gene

The following are excerpts that I found interesting from the Time article, “Is God in Our Genes?”, 25 October 2004:

Hamer also stresses that while he may have located a genetic root for spirituality, that is not the same as a genetic root for religion.  Spirituality is a feeling or a state of mind; religion is the way that state gets codified into law.  Our genes don’t get directly involved in writing legislation.  As Hamer puts it, perhaps understating a bit the emotional connection many have to their religions, “Spirituality is intensely personal; religion is institutional.”

“God is an artifact of the brain.”

Simply understanding the optics and wiring of the eyes, after all, doesn’t mean there’s no inherent magnificence in the Rembrandts they allow us to see.  If human beings were indeed divinely assembled, why wouldn’t our list of parts include a genetic chip that would enable us to contemplate our maker?

The simple answer might be that just because we’re given a gift, we don’t necessarily always use it wisely.  Fire can either light your village or burn down the one next door, depending on your inclination.  “Religions represent an attempt to harness innate spirituality for organizational purposes—not always good,” says Macquarie University’s Davies. And while spiritual contemplation is intuitive, says Washington University’s Cloninger, religion is dogmatic; dogma in the wrong hands has always been a risky thing.

“I have never had a Big Bang conversion experience.  My sense is that slowly and gradually, out of a rich experience of the world, one builds a faith.”