October, 2004LinkA review of The God Gene: How Faith Is Hard-
wired Into Our Genes, by Dean Hamer. By page 77 of The God Gene,
Dean H. Hamer has already disowned the title of his own book. He
recalls describing to a colleague his discovery of a link
between spirituality and a specific gene he calls "the God
gene." His colleague raised her eyebrows. "Do you mean there's
just one?ï¿½Â¿Â½" she asked. "I deserved her skepticism," Hamer
writes. "What I meant to say, of course, was 'a' God gene, not
'the' God gene." Of course. Why, the reader wonders, didn't
Hamer call his book A God Gene? That might not have been as
catchy, but at least it wouldn't have left him contradicting
himself. Whatever you want to call it, this is a frustrating
book. The role that genes play in religion is a fascinating
question that's ripe for the asking. Psychologists, neurologists
and even evolutionary biologists have offered insights about how
spiritual behaviors and beliefs emerge from the brain. It is
reasonable to ask, as Hamer does,