I don’t think we have a “God gene,” I think we are just imprinted psychologically in a certain way because we are mammals. Our species has heavy parental investment. In other words, we must be taken very good care of that first year of life or we die. Unlike snakes who hatch and slither away in search of food, human infants can do nothing but cry out for help. We cry, and a big, powerful being whom we cannot see clearly (usually Mom) comes and helps us. We grow up with the unconscious belief that if you cry out, help will come. Lots of other mammmals have that too. I’ve seen a kitten sitting by her dead mother on the side of the road, crying out for help. Who is she crying to? Her mother is dead. Does the kitten believe in God? No, it just knows that if you cry out, help is supposed to come. (I saved that kitten, by the way. So no one gets depressed by this post.)
Good job saving the kitten and I don’t mean to imply that atheists are immoral or evil or cannot discern right from wrong.
Having been an atheist, though, it seems to me that I am happier now than I was then. My relationships are better and free from acrimony. I’m gentler and more loving and all that came about after my conversion to Christianity.
I feel that it is my relationship with Jesus Christ that strenghtens my marriage and family. I’m a better husband, father and friend then I ever was before my conversion.
That said I still have the same problems and challenges. Am I simply deluding myself? Is this just a survival strategy imposed by genes or environment? I don’t think so.
When I was baptized I felt utterly free of burdens, pure, fresh and new. Now, your contention is that I’m deluding myslef, but I don’t feel that way.