The God Gene
Do you believe that people seek to believe in a Higher Power (or powers) because this power really exists, or is it because people need to believe so they simply follow that instinctive need for The Divine that’s embedded in them?
For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated with the issue of religion and spirituality, and have been very fond of science as well. Mix those elements together, do a little research on each, engage in discussions with people of different faiths and those without, and you will get soul-searching chaos Tololy-style.
I first heard about the theory behind the God gene from my sister, and that was years ago. Today, I finally decided to blog about it because I want to communicate it to people who may not have heard about it. Basically, as the question in the first passage of this post asks, the quest for a Deity (or more) just might have something to do with genetic predisposition. Read this article from TIME, dating back to October 2004, and titled Is God in Our Genes? , or you could read the following excerpts:
Which came first, God or the need for God? In other words, did humans create religion from cues sent from above, or did evolution instill in us a sense of the divine so that we would gather into the communities essential to keeping the species going?
. . .
Chief of gene structure at the National Cancer Institute, [Dean] Hamer not only claims that human spirituality is an adaptive trait, but he also says he has located one of the genes responsible, a gene that just happens to also code for production of the neurotransmitters that regulate our moods. Our most profound feelings of spirituality, according to a literal reading of Hamer’s work, may be due to little more than an occasional shot of intoxicating brain chemicals governed by our DNA. “I’m a believer that every thought we think and every feeling we feel is the result of activity in the brain,” Hamer says.
. . .
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.”
. . .
What do you think?
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Related Posts
- Atheist Marriages in Jordan
- Quoting Einstein on Religion
- Here’s a Very Simple Post
- Veiled Women and Religion
- Is Smoking Haram?
February 14th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
As you can imagine, I highly disagree! I love science, but much of the hypothesis of science is to disregard God or any kind of higher being. I believe God places within the heart of each person a desire to know Him and be known by Him, and life is a journey of either discovering Him or choosing our own way away fom Him.<br /><br />Perhaps those choices show up chemically in DNA…but I know that my life has been a series of miracles brought about by the intimate connection Jesus Christ gave me through the Holy Spirit when I first believed in Him. It’s a daily thing, never the same, and a very exciting and fun way to live. <br /><br />But of course, you probably expected me to say something like that. :)<br />
February 14th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Kinzi, I have to disagree with your comment that science disregards god as a hypothesis. Hypothesises as a (good) rule have to operate on the basis that they are testable, and as such you cannot insert god into them; God and other higher beings usually tend to be defined in a way as to render them untestable. <br /><br />Of course, this is not an arguement against your own belief, I just wanted to point out that science is (usually) neutral with matters that concern strictly metaphysical concepts like God, the soul, fate/destiny, etc.<br />
February 14th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
I think the human mind has a struggling capacity to polorize everything. Hence science and religion become mutually exclusive entities. On one side of the line in the sand stand those that believe in science, and thus on the other side those that believe in God. One is viewed as dependent on established, or rather institionalized facts, while the other on faith.<br /><br />Scientists however, especially in the Christian west, have a tendency
to use any theory to disprove the existance of God and the religious
have a tendency to use God as an excuse to not believe in science.<br /><br />This troubles me because I believe in both. One entity is entwined with the other in my opinion.<br /><br />Perhaps there is a God gene and perhaps it was embedded in us by the Creator Himself. If one believes that God created every living particle within us then how does that belief become altered with the discovery of the gene that makes us believe in a higher power, that makes us love, that makes us feel spiritual pain? <br /><br />I’m kind of tired of a world that uses science as a weapon against religion and uses religion as a weapon against science. <br /><br />
February 14th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
<p>I have asked <a href="http://liveitupdude.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!F54D50312CEB7210!201.entry">this question</a> almost a year ago, and I it might be possible that this gene is for real.</p>
February 15th, 2007 at 6:27 am
<p>o waw, i just learned about the god gene a few months ago. i read an article in "women’s health" magazine (December issue, usa), the article was titled "choosing your religion".</p>
<p>i find it very fascinating, but not necessarily true. but i guess we cant jugde unless there is sufficient information.</p>
<p>nice post tololy ;)</p>
February 15th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Mek, Nas made my point better than I did, as usual. <br /><br />Mek and Nas, my husband is a research scientist (AIDS and cancer) and found mine and Nas’ point quite true. He was able to blend well both his love for science and his faith - and didnt’ fit the media mold of brain-dead believers who reject the truths God has given in science.<br />
February 15th, 2007 at 8:30 pm
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">A provocative post yet again. Must give it to you, you have the knack.
<p></p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">
<p> </p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">For eons this debate must have engaged millions of intellects. And for eons to come it will continue to do so. Even if a common denominator does exist, human’s obsession for complication will disregard such a denominator.
<p></p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">
<p> </p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Science and sociology is content to recognize humans as moral, social & rational entity. The spiritual entity that humans are is never recognized. And the fundament problem with science as a religion (yes, in more than one way, science too is a religion that codifies) is that it fails to accommodate ideas that are not empirical and testable. It maintains a disconcerting silence about matters that are metaphysical (Mek, I tend to disagree with the claim that science is neutral :-)).
<p></p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">
<p> </p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">For the discerning mind, there definitely exists a meeting ground for God & Science, a sentiment that Nas echoes.
<p></p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">
<p> </p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Lyrical/poetic as it may seem, the scriptures (Bible/Torah, book of Genesis anybody :-) ) record that God breathed into humans, well Hamer’s God genes only adds strength to that idea.
<p></p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">
<p> </p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Science by itself is built on conventions. A simple example would be the sun rises in the east, but whoever fixed the coordinates for east? Is it just not a convention?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>For all that the sun is stationary. Science will lend itself to anything that can be heard, touched, seen, smelt and tasted but faith is essentially the sixth sense that it cannot accept.
<p></p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">
<p> </p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Tololy to answer your question, yes, humans created religion (which IMHO is dirty politics :-) ). I reckon a more pertinent question would be if humans created God (generally believed that the reason for God was that humans could not explain various natural phenomena!). The answer to that question is realization that an individual makes for herself and the faculty of faith is primarily responsible for that realization and from thereon the spiritual journey commences and this journey challenges not religion and science but spirituality and religion.
<p></p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">
<p></p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The world is full of interesting people, people who test god in the light of Science, people who test science in the light of God and then there are those blissfully aware of the non-dualism of God & Science</p>
February 17th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
I was made to go to Christian schools when I was young — mainly because they were safer than public schools in Los Angeles at the time — but it never really stuck with me. I distinctly recall being disciplined for asking innocent questions about dinosaurs and such that my teacher was unprepared to answer. My mother also made my brother and I attend "Sunday school," which I hardly remember anything about save singing songs about Jesus.<br /><br />Once my family moved to the Pacific Northwest, all of that stopped. My mother retains her private faith. My father is a scientist and an atheist through-and-through. My brother and I were given the choice: if we wanted to continue going to church, my mother would gladly take us. Otherwise, no one would force us to be religious.<br /><br />We both chose to stop going, and religion more or less ceased to be an important part of my life until high school, when I adopted a somewhat… strident form of atheism in an act of teenage rebellion. :)<br /><br />Since then, I’ve soften my views somewhat to the point of detatched agnosticism — perhaps there is some higher power, perhaps not.<br /><br />All of this is not to say, however, that I do not find a great deal of beauty in the various ways that mankind has expressed its yearning for God throughout history. <br />
February 23rd, 2007 at 4:15 pm
[...] In an entertaining post, Roba tells us how she overcame being intimidated as a new driver and learned the art of “zorabah”, while Moey has drawn up a list of top 10 blogging mistakes to avoid that are worth a read. Tololy goes down theology lane as she wonders whether our belief in God is genetically inevitable, which inspires a debate on what came first: God or the need for God? [...]
January 20th, 2008 at 5:17 am
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">God Gene Exists</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">
<p></p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Theories on the fourth dimension vary widely. I believe that there is a fourth-dimensional world containing forces that can act upon and influence us three-dimensional beings, as the Spiritualists assert.<br /><br />The Fourth Dimension Simply Explained by Manning, Henry P. states, ”Is there a real fourth-dimensional world? It is highly improbable. If there were such a world would it be inhabited by beings that could act upon us three-dimensional beings, as the Spiritualists assert? We reasoned the possibilities of a fourth-dimensional world by analogy — we must reason this question in the same way. If there is a fourth-dimensional world containing beings that can act upon and influence us, who are but three-dimensional, then, by analogy, we would expect the existence of a world of two-dimensional beings upon whom we could consciously act. We do not know of such a world. Also, we would expect a fifth-dimensional world with beings that could influence the beings of a fourth-dimensional world, and so on. Perhaps there is a two-dimensional world that we cannot influence. Then, the other worlds should be independent also, and if the fourth-dimensional beings can still influence us, then the fourth-dimensional world would be an exception in the great plan of creation. The existence of such a world with beings that can influence us is, therefore, highly improbable.”<br /><br />I am a rational, logical, non-religious sixty-five year old retired California Real Estate Broker, living in Newport Beach. I considered my first spiritual interaction fifty years ago a possible dream until I had two additional distinct spiritual interactions in September 2001. I then came to the conclusion that they definitely were not dreams. It results when, via meditation, the state of consciousness is placed into a trance, it is a displacement, standing out from the proper place, hence a spiritual rising above; A transference of consciousness from the physical plane to another inner and superior plane, accompanied by awareness and memory of the experience. It is necessary to distinguish between an astral-psychic experience and a truly psycho-spiritual one. The former is delusive, the latter is the state of illumination spoken of by Plotinus, resulting from the true asceticism of the disciple and in its highest form is the same as the high stage of meditation; "the liberation of the mind from its finite consciousness, becoming one and identified with the Infinite".<br /><br />The India Daily Technology Team on May 28, 2005 published the following editorial in their newspaper.<br /><br />“Physics meets paranormal - Finding nearest openings to seven parallel Universes - Near death experiences.<br /><br />The ultimate bending space and time results in finding the opening to the nearest parallel space and time. According to advanced researchers in Physics, there are seven parallel Universes. These Universes are so different in their perception that with conventional physics we can never find where they are and how they are. However, the concept of accelerating to speed much higher than light and take us to these parallels Universes through an opening in our vicinity. You do not have to travel a thousand light years into a black hole to go there; that is just one of the ways to approach the parallel Universes. But our mind and spirit has the psychic power that can make us travel through the nearest opening into the parallel Universes. Those who have experienced near death experiences move into these parallel Universes through the tunnel with a while light at the end of the tunnel. All of those who had near death experience report similar happenings. How can this be explained with physics?<br /><br />Our spirit or soul is a source of electromagnetic energy that can infinitively amplify if needed. Inner satisfaction of a soul results in elevation of this energy. It is also true that we move into these parallel Universes using intense electromagnetic flux with the help of dark energy. We just do not know how to do that. The problem is that if we try to do it using physical means we encounter a situation that is infinitely impossible to achieve. But accelerating through a black hole or applying dark energy in a suitable manner in the immediate vicinity theoretically can take us to the parallel Universe. But a much better way is to traverse to the parallel Universe through our inbuilt psychic power. When our spirit is allowed freedom through death or through transcendental meditation, the unleashed electromagnetic flux crates the miracle - it finds an immediate opening to the parallel Universe in the close vicinity. Religious prophets in various religions as well as those who have experienced near death experience the parallel Universes. Most of them report part of oneness and tranquility. They also report of completeness of knowledge.<br /><br />Will we eventually find the electromagnetic fields and the change that runs this Universe? The other parallel Universes may not work the same way. That is the reason what is energy or spirit in this Universe is part of tranquility and eternity in another Universe. This has now been verified by Transcendentalist Kurt Kawohl from the USA. When he had a near-death experience in 1956 at age fifteen his soul traveled into a higher-level parallel universe. What happens to us after death has now been made clear. Kurt twice repeated this experiment in 2001 when he placed his body in stasis and used his psychic power via transcendental meditation to again access this parallel universe where spiritual life thrives. Some researchers believe that parallel universes exist in our immediate vicinity.<br /><br />Please feel free to visit <a href="http://transcendentalists.org/">http://transcendentalists.org</a> and <a href="http://www.lulu.com/kkawohl1">http://www.lulu.com/kkawohl1</a> to learn more about Kurt Kawohl’s experience”.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">
<p></p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">
<p></p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">
<p></p></p>