Window on the World - The God Gene

Excerpt: 'What is it that causes some people to be more religious than others? Could it possibly be that some people are genetically predisposed to have certain spiritual experiences? Is there a “god” gene?

Some people say that there is, or at least that this is what science is starting to show. In a book called The God Gene: How Faith Is Hardwired into Our Genes [New York: Doubleday, 2004], Dean Hamer of the National Cancer Institute argues that some people have God in their genes. He says: “I’m a believer that every thought we think and every feeling we feel is the result of activity in the brain. I think we follow the basic law of nature, which is that we’re a bunch of chemical reactions running around in a bag” [quoted by Jeffrey Kluger in “Is God in Our Genes?” TIME, October 25, 2004, page 65].'

The Window on the World is our weekly opportunity to examine our culture from the vantage point of biblical Christianity.

Many of these are now published in 'My Father's World: Meditations on Christianity and Culture', 2002, and 'He Speaks to Me Everywhere', 2004, both by Philip Graham Ryken, P&R Publishing.

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