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ivi
Registered: 01/30/03
Posts: 9,089
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Faith in God is down to your genes, says Dean Hamer
#3372903 - 11/17/04 05:23 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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Faith in God is down to your genes, says Researcher Whether or not you are religious and believe in God is down to your genes, says Dean Hamer, National Cancer Institute's Gene Structure Regulation Unit, USA. He reckons Jesus, Mohammed (the prophet) and Buddha probably carried the ?God Gene' in them. Church representatives have criticised Dean Hamer's findings. Church representatives say Hamer fails to understand exactly what faith is and what it entails. This is not the first time Hamer has come out with controversial findings. In 1993, he said there was a DNA sequence associated with homosexuality. Hamer claims there is a version of the VMAT2 gene that is a ?God Gene'. The presence of this version of the gene makes the person who has it more religious and spiritual than people who do not. Hamer has written a book called ?The God Gene - How Faith is Hard Wired into our Genes'. Hamer studied 2,000 DNA samples. He interviewed 2,000 people extensively (226 questions in each interview). The questions, among other things, looked at how spiritual a person is and what their level of faith in God is. He found that the VMAT2 Gene was significantly more common among people who believed in a higher spiritual being. According to his research, whether or not your upbringing is religious has no bearing on how religious you turn out to be - but the presence of the VMAT2 Gene version does. Hamer believes Buddha, Mohammed and Jesus probably had the version of the VMAT2 Gene. He said they all experienced a series of mystical experiences or alterations in consciousness. Hamer said "This means that the tendency to be spiritual is part of genetic make-up. This is not a thing that is strictly handed down from parents to children. It could skip a generation - it's like intelligence." A spokesman for the Church of Scotland, Donald Bruce, said Hamer's declarations were nothing more than a publicity stunt as his book is launched. He said God makes himself available to all equally and there is no such thing as a God Gene. According to Donald Bruce, Hamer had told him a year ago that the term ?God Gene' was misleading. This is not the first time the Church has disagreed with the findings of scientists. Many years ago, the Church got upset with Galileo because he said the earth went round the sun, he also said the earth was round (not flat). http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=16378
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fireworks_god
Sexy.Butt.McDanger
Registered: 03/12/02
Posts: 24,855
Loc: Pandurn
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Re: Faith in God is down to your genes, says Dean Hamer [Re: ivi]
#3373252 - 11/17/04 09:16 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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These posts keep appearing recently. I'd suggest searching into what conversations conspired in those threads.
Peace.
-------------------- If I should die this very moment I wouldn't fear For I've never known completeness Like being here Wrapped in the warmth of you Loving every breath of you
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ivi
Registered: 01/30/03
Posts: 9,089
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Re: Faith in God is down to your genes, says Dean Hamer [Re: fireworks_god]
#3373557 - 11/17/04 10:34 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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Sorry, not really interested in discussion, Explicit Duality. Just posted a news article which hadn't been posted in S&P yet (at least since the day it was released). Before that day? Maybe...
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Edited by ivi (11/17/04 10:45 AM)
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zahudulallah
Sexual Heretic
Registered: 10/20/04
Posts: 10,579
Loc: Tokyo, Japan
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Re: Faith in God is down to your genes, says Dean Hamer [Re: ivi]
#3373585 - 11/17/04 10:42 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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Hamer believes Buddha, Mohammed and Jesus probably had the version of the VMAT2 Gene. He said they all experienced a series of mystical experiences or alterations in consciousness.
As if this smiling glass of water (Hamer) has an idea what Sidartha Guatama, Muhammad ibn Abd Allah, and Issa of Nazareth experienced on a spiritual level.
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fireworks_god
Sexy.Butt.McDanger
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Re: Faith in God is down to your genes, says Dean Hamer [Re: ivi]
#3373619 - 11/17/04 10:50 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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Quote:
ivi said: Sorry, not really interested in discussion, Explicit Duality. Just posted a news article which hadn't been posted in S&P yet (at least since the day it was released). Before that day? Maybe...
I was merely suggesting searching and reading those posts, because they dwelve into it much more deeply, informatively, and completely than that news article. The news article is derived from the previous sources that those discussions were based on.
Peace.
-------------------- If I should die this very moment I wouldn't fear For I've never known completeness Like being here Wrapped in the warmth of you Loving every breath of you
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jux
I'm better thanan STD!
Registered: 04/06/04
Posts: 924
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Re: Faith in God is down to your genes, says Dean Hamer [Re: ivi]
#3373793 - 11/17/04 11:33 AM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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I think he is making a mistake in the wording. It would be innaccurate to say that the gene causes spirituality. Perhaps it makes people more suseptible to becoming spiritual or religious, but be the couse of it?
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DNKYD
Turtle!
Registered: 09/23/04
Posts: 12,326
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Re: Faith in God is down to your genes, says Dean Hamer [Re: jux]
#3374287 - 11/17/04 01:33 PM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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You can't draw causality from statistics. Either way, I think it's a very interesting discovery and article. I especially like that line at the end: "This is not the first time the Church has disagreed with the findings of scientists. Many years ago, the Church got upset with Galileo because he said the earth went round the sun, he also said the earth was round (not flat). "
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jux
I'm better thanan STD!
Registered: 04/06/04
Posts: 924
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Re: Faith in God is down to your genes, says Dean Hamer [Re: DNKYD]
#3374345 - 11/17/04 01:46 PM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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I find that line to be very misleading by correlating this work to the ground breaking work of Galileo
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Autonomous
MysteriousStranger
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Loc: U.S.S.A.
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Re: Faith in God is down to your genes, says Dean Hamer [Re: ivi]
#3375166 - 11/17/04 04:22 PM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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In my youth I had a deep and abiding faith and an unshakable desire to know the spiritual side of existence. Rational, critical and free thought destroyed my faith but has done nothing to quench my desire for the spiritual. The blessing of loosening the fetters on your mind is that you are able to transcend programming of either the genetic, cultural or educational nature.
-------------------- "In religion and politics people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination." -- Mark Twain
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Jellric
altered statesman
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Re: Faith in God is down to your genes, says Dean Hamer [Re: ivi]
#3375996 - 11/17/04 06:54 PM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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If this proves to be true, maybe there is hope for a cure.
-------------------- I AM what Willis was talkin' bout.
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zahudulallah
Sexual Heretic
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Loc: Tokyo, Japan
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Re: Faith in God is down to your genes, says Dean Hamer [Re: Autonomous]
#3376018 - 11/17/04 06:59 PM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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God is transrational. Rationality has no place in the quest for meaning.
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Autonomous
MysteriousStranger
Registered: 05/10/02
Posts: 901
Loc: U.S.S.A.
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Re: Faith in God is down to your genes, says Dean Hamer [Re: zahudulallah]
#3376473 - 11/17/04 08:44 PM (19 years, 4 months ago) |
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So we are in agreement, a belief in God is irrational.
-------------------- "In religion and politics people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination." -- Mark Twain
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