Tracking The Human "God Gene"

By James Donahue

Dean Hamer’s book,"The God Gene; How Faith is Hardwired Into Our Genes," created a stir among theologians. He argues that humans are genetically programmed to worship God.

Hamer suggests that faith is reduced to chemical reactions in the brain. And this angers Christians who want us to believe that faith is a personal decision in life that marks a new path from judgment into that of eternal reward.

Anyone who has ever attended an evangelical church service knows that the leader almost always includes a call for salvation. Hard line Bible thumpers want followers to make a outward decision to follow Christ, and mark it with a public proclamation of their faith.

For these believers, the argument that humans are genetically produced with a built-in understanding of God, is nothing less than blasphemy.

Strangely, Hamer’s argument isn’t that different from Christian theology. A behavioral geneticist, Hamer claims that his research shows that spirituality – or that feeling of transcendence – is part of our nature.

"We think that all human beings have an innate capacity for spirituality and that that desire to reach out beyond oneself, which is at the heart of spirituality, is part of the human makeup," he told Washington Post reporter Bill Broadway.

Hamer says at least one gene, called VMAT2, controls the flow of chemicals to the brain that affect emotions and consciousness. This is what Hamer calls the "God gene."

He acknowledges that other genes, yet to be discovered, may also be involved in what appears to be a universal human propensity for transcendence.

The Broadway story notes that while the scientific linkage of a gene with chemicals that affect happiness or sadness fails to prove the existence of God, but only show why we believe in the existence of a God.

"Our genes can predispose us to believe. But they don’t tell us what to believe in," explained Hamer.

Indeed, humans in every corner of the world seem to have always worshipped something, although the direction of this worship has passed from trees, to stones to so many different spiritual deities they are almost too numerous to count. Not until Communism came along was the worship of a deity halted by the law of the land. Whether the people living under Communism obeyed this law is known only to them.

Even Christians disagree among themselves just who and what God is, and how this deity is to be properly worshipped.

The irony of all this is that Hamer has struck upon something important, although he has failed to explain just what it means.

All humans appear to have embedded in their DNA a complete　record of the　human soul　from the day it was first formed within the heart of the Mother Earth. Consequently, we all may know the truth. Because of sometimes fanatical or social intervention we are taught what our parents, teachers and pastors believe, which misdirects our spiritual path and leaves us confused.

Primitive man always knew where God was, and who God is. She is the Mother Earth. And her essence, the soul, lives within each of us. Ask any aboriginal person still living with his tribe and in his natural environment today, and this is what he will tell you.

It also is possible that our DNA was altered so that we have the potential of evolving to a collective godlike state. There is evidence, even in the Bible, and certainly in other ancient writings and art works, that the planet was once visited by aliens from other worlds who somehow interfered with our genetic makeup.

Whether it was a gift from the alien visitors or was always implanted in us, the god gene plays a role in our wanting to believe in a deity. The deity, if we want to call it that, may lie within ourselves when our brains are working in harmony. When activated the gene triggers right brain functioning that leads us into spiritual and mental evolution. Our drive for spiritual knowledge, and our mental ability to understand it, works hand-in-hand toward the final stage of human evolution. Only in this way can we fully discover ourselves, our relationship to each other and our destiny in this living universe.

All of this information is contained within the genetic structure of our personal DNA. If and when Hamer and his fellow genetic researchers dig deep enough, they may find the truth in this.

The world religions are living on borrowed time. As scientific research goes on, the proof of the great "savior" hoax becomes closer and closer to being exposed.

This may be why the radical religious groups are rushing the world to an apocalyptic end. They believe they have very little time left before they get raptured up into the clouds. It is a dangerous myth that is driving them and perhaps the entire human race toward extinction.

Consequently, the race is on between science and religion. If we aren’t careful, the religious segment will win. Humans need to stand up and be counted on this issue rather than submit to the demands of robed religious fanatics claiming to represent a "grandfather" spirit that maintains a master control of our world and our lives.