The God Gene
Can one genetic code explain your belief?
What makes a person want to believe in God? Is it the many delicate, impressionable years of their youth spent at the crowded Sunday Mass? Is it the comfort derived from the words of a holy book within which is promised a paradise just beyond this taxing life? Or is it an experience in their life which changes them forever, an overwhelming moment of connection with a higher being and the universe around them? The answer is different for each person. Spirituality is a complex human phenomenon. It was sewn within our kind as far back as thousands of years ago when we were nothing more than families huddled ‘round on primitive Earth. Back then our spirituality manifested itself as drawings of animal-human figures on cave walls and elaborate burial ceremonies to part ways with the dead.
Perhaps what’s most surprising isn’t that spirituality has been around since the emergence of mankind, but that it has remained so prominent in the modern day. A 2017 survey found that 75% of Americans described themselves as spiritual. This isn’t to be confused with organized religion. The difference between religion and spirituality is that religion is an external show of faith — it’s embodied by places of worship and through community rituals such as a Baptism. Spirituality, on the other hand, is a private belief not necessarily encumbered by…
