In Search of the G-d Gene

I know this was hot news a couple of years ago, but my professor for "Contemporary Jewish Spirituality" just sent this article out to the class after a heated conversation on Jewish moral exceptionalism. That controversial topic aside, I think its a really interesting topic of conversation; the intersection of science and religion in this way. What if spirituality can, in one way, be reduced to a genetic predisposition? Does that make it any less powerful? Maybe not; maybe just confirms that there really is something deep down inside that all these people are feeling so powerfully. Thoughts?

Dr. Dean Hamer, a molecular geneticist, argues persuasively that genes predispose humans to believe that "spirituality is one of our basic human inheritances," and that, indeed, there is a specific individual gene associated with faith. "I propose," he writes, "that spirituality has a biological mechanism akin to birdsong, albeit a far more complex and nuanced one."

Genes, Dr. Hamer adds, do not tell the whole story. Humans' genetic predisposition for spiritual belief is expressed in response to personal experience and the cultural environment, and it is shaped by them.

But the genes, he says, "act by influencing the brain's capability for various types and forms of consciousness, which become the basis for spiritual experiences."
...
the fact that spirituality has a genetic component implies that it has evolved for a purpose. "There is now reasonable evidence that spirituality is in fact beneficial to our physical as well as mental health. Faith may not only make people feel better, it may actually make them better people."

-From The New York Times, November 2nd, 2004, recommended by Professor Eliezer Shore