The God Gene

(Note: Originally Posted 1-18-05)

There’s a new title on the market, The God Gene: How Faith Is Hard-Wired Into Our Genes, by Dr. Dean Hamer. Haven't read the book yet, but, as I read the New York Times review, I was left wondering, "What in the world could genes possibly have to do with God? What could genes have to do with Faith?"

Flipping through a biology text gathering dust on my shelf, I located the definition of a gene: "A discrete unit of hereditary information consisting of a specific nucleotide sequence in DNA."

DNA is the famous double helix molecule made up of phosphorous, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms. Thus individual genes are units of code on the master code list known as DNA. The code determines the structure of proteins.

Genes are thus biological codes for structure; genes are specific arrangements of atoms, within the longer chain of atoms known as DNA, which determine the complex arrangement of atoms that make up proteins. It’s structure all the way down, and all the way up. Programmed building blocks.

So where do we find the connection between genes and faith, spirituality, or God?

Genes are not repositories of thoughts and ideas; they are molecules that code for structure. DNA molecules do not contain a code for faith; they instruct the formulation of proteins. The scriptures are not inscribed on genes. The link between structure and consciousness continues to elude scientists; How it is that consciousness arises from structure? remains the question for which science has no answer.

So what could Dr. Hamer be thinking? It appears he’s a modern day Icarus, leaping off the speculative cliff into the hot sun. After locating a gene that controls a brain chemical that has a tenuous relationship to "mood," he builds a house of cards leading through the modern day fairy tale of emergent consciousness into the non sequitur "...the gene is important because it points out the mechanism by which spirituality is manifested in the brain."

The link between the gene and spirituality ends up being the fantasy of Dr. Hamer and nothing more. Anyone even remotely familiar with spirituality can see the illogic in his statement. He affixes the wings of speculation to his mind with wax and attempts the leap across the chasm that separates genetic structure and spiritual consciousness. Though one cannot even see the spiritual side of the divide from the genetic side, Dr. Hamer assumes a few flaps of his wings will land him safely on terra firma.

But we all know the sun melts wax. We know the fate of Icarus. So, too, Dr. Hamer and The God Gene will plummet from sight.

The publication of The God Gene makes a strong case for much needed improvement in science education and an even stronger case for teaching spirituality. As standards in science education decline and the study of spirituality is eliminated altogether, we will experience an epidemic of Icarus-like academicians jumping off cliffs.

When Kuhn spoke of scientific revolutions maybe this is what he had in mind; when the old guard leaps off cliffs and disappears, a radical shift in the paradigm can take place.

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Tags: God Gene, genes, faith, God, DNA, biology, spirituality