God Gene? Or, "Oh No, Not Again?"

Every so often, some one comes along and suggests that religion is hard-wired into the human race, which pisses me off, ruins my day and makes me consider killing off the planet again. There's an interesting synopsis of this book over here by Robert Paul Reyes

If Hammer is correct then it follows that it isn't the Holy Ghost that draws a sinner to Christ, but a gene that has a thirst for myth, magic and malarkey.

Arrgh.And here I was hoping it was more of the ..well...lack of ability to think that was responsible. In a mood to grasp at straws now, I find that in Scientific American,Carl Zimmer allows me to give a big sigh of relief

Is the God gene real? The only evidence we have to go on at the moment is what Hamer presents in his book. He and his colleagues are still preparing to submit their results to a scientific journal. It would be nice to know whether these results can withstand the rigors of peer review. It would be nicer still to know whether any other scientists can replicate them. The field of behavioral genetics is littered with failed links between particular genes and personality traits. These alleged associations at first seemed very strong. But as other researchers tried to replicate them, they faded away into statistical noise. In 1993, for example, a scientist reported a genetic link to male homosexuality in a region of the X chromosome. The report brought a huge media fanfare, but other scientists who tried to replicate the study failed. The scientist's name was Dean Hamer.

(Spiteful emphases are mine)