Posted on 11/13/2004 7:47:12 PM PST by Former Military Chick
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."
13 October 2004: Homosexual link to fertility genes
"They entire thing was 100% bogus. Total junk."
Well, that's why I said the study was small and the science wasn't definitive. If I had to characterize it, I'd probably say it was intriguing, but I'm obviously not as familiar with the particulars as you. So, I'll defer to you.
"But it hardly matters, since there are thousands of ex-"gays"."
I personally think they're only ex-gay in the sense that they've chosen to ignore or fight their preferred attractions. I also happen to suspect that homosexuality is a biological glitch in the wiring. No point in arguing the point, though, since neither one of us can really know what's in the mind or heart of every gay person.
Indeed! Of course the same logic can be applied to former homosexuals.
Are you interested in reading what some former homosexuals have said about that very subject?
Hey, thanks for the defense on that -- a pointless exercise, but it's the thought that counts.
"Science tells us the major factor behind homosexuality is environment,"
It may be the major factor. It may not. My point is that nobody definitively knows and, until the science, including our understanding of the human psyche, improves, we won't know. Until then, I guess we're all entitled to our opinions.
That's what science tells us. That's what science tells us at every turn. And that's one of the very big reasons why former homosexuals exist. But you're certainly entitled to an uninformed opinion on the matter.
If you want to change that status of your opinion from uninformed to informed, start here: Homosexual Agenda: Categorical Index of Links
A similar thing happens occasionally in linguistics. Lefties like Steven Pinker (author of "The Language Instinct") have written of a "grammar gene" that causes us to use, for example, prepositions in a certain way. In theory, if the gene is faulty, such a person would consistently misuse this part of speech, despite training; additionlly, the bad gene should be transmissible to offspring. Pinker et al. became very excited back in the 1990s when such a family was in fact discovered (in Britain, I think) and wrote that this proved the existence of such a gene. On closer study by a different group of researchers, however, the family turned out to be simply SEVERELY mentally handicapped -- not just in language, but in everything, including an inability to tie their shoelaces correctly. Would this therefore point to the existence of a "shoelace tying gene?" It turns out Pinker and his fellow libs simply selected which parts of the data they wanted to look at and ignored the rest.
"...an American molecular geneticist has concluded that a person's capacity to believe in God is linked to brain chemicals."
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Hmmmmmmm. And all this time I thought it was faith?
I guess I still do.
2 CWOJackson
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Turn it around. Those with an absence of this gene may be predisposed to a reluctance accepting a higher authority than themselves.
11 Bob J
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Turn it around again. Assume all those who subscribe to this nonsense are stupid.
--- Stupid is as stupid does.
In regards to homosexuality and genetics, the work of homosexual activist Dr. Simon LeVay has often been used to support the idea that homosexuality is genetic, and his work is still quoted to this day. But what did LeVay really find? Here is what LeVay said of his own work in a March 1994 interview with Discover magazine:
"[His 1991 research] made the unassuming LeVay one of the most misunderstood men in America. "It's important to stress what I didn't find," he points out with the courtly patience of someone who long ago got used to waiting for the rest of the world to catch up. "I did not prove that homosexuality is genetic, or find a genetic cause for being gay. I didn't show that gay men are 'born that way,' the most common mistake people make in interpreting my work. Nor did I locate a gay center in the brain --INAH3 is less likely to be the sole gay nucleus of the brain than part of a chain of nuclei engaged in men and women's sexual behavior. My work is just a hint in that direction--a spur, I hope, to future work."Source: Interview with David Nimmons (March, 1994) "Sex and the Brain", Discover, Vol. 15, No. 3, p. 64-71.
That's actually a responsible statement. Good science reporting. And the way a scientist should think.
You got anything on autism?
Indeed, but with the political correctness of homosexuality, good science is often rejected for the mere fact that it's not politically correct. That's not what science is about.
Sorry - nothing on autism.
For what it's worth, LeVay continued looking for years after the above interview and recently gave up looking for a gene that causes homosexuality to become a homosexual activist.
"I can't help it. I was born this way. I have the VMAT2 gene! Do you think I have a choice in how I am made? You are the bigot! You are trampling my civil rights. I demand we order society to accomodate my inclinations!"
Thank God for reductio ad absurdum.
Yeah, but maybe his initial discovery will come into play later. Perhaps in some unrelated field. That's the way science works. And we're just on the surface of understanding how the brain works.
And for the record, I tend to accept people pretty much as they are -- though in my experience, if their sexuality is the major event in their lives, they tend to be fairly boring people.
You are welcome. The list of who to ping helps.
Absolute Bull*%#!
The abuse of real science continues.
LOL -- seems I've heard that definition before. I suspect you may be faith-delimited. You might be carrying "the gene". Did you have a high incidence of Dutch Reformed among your ancestors? ;^D
I'm sorry, I took those words out of the Bible (Romans, chapter 8). I didn't think up predestination. The Lord said it. I'm only about a 3 point Calvinist myself...I don't claim to understand everyting about how God does things. I agree, we all need Jesus to save us, however, I don't think Paul was making that stuff up. I was also trying to mock the whole idea that there is a gene responsible for all our 'bad' behaivor; do you remember when it came out that there was a gene that predisposed one to alcoholism? Or how about the one for stealing? Those have all been 'found' in the last 30 years by some supposed expert in DNA. If you didn't understand my comments as mocking, then I obvioulsy failed at the joke.
Ridiculous!
I find this highly amusing only in it's blatant bias: This guy found a "God Gene", a "Gay Gene" yet the Gene that explains why some people are lazy insipid slobs who soak off of the rest of us seems to elude him. OOPS! That's right! I forgot, that wouldn't be PC!
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