'The God Gene': Bad Science Meets Bad Theology

Continued from page 1

Hamer admits that self-transcendence will sound a bit "flaky" to many readers. Nevertheless, "it successfully passes the test for a solid psychological trait." Well, at least it passes the test of serving as a useful tool that will enable Hamer to continue his argument.

Continuing in a New Age direction, Hamer distinguishes "spirituality" from "religion." Spirituality is tied to his notion of self-transcendence while religion is far more concrete, rational, and particular. As Hamer explains, "the self-transcendence scale tries to separate one's spirituality from one's particular religious beliefs by eschewing questions about belief in a particular God, frequency of prayer, or orthodox religious doctrines or practices." Just in case we missed the point, Hamer adds: "Even individuals who dislike all forms of organized religion may have a strong spiritual capacity and score high on the self-transcendent scale." So . . . the "God gene" doesn't actually have anything directly to do with believing in God, only [he argues] with the capacity to achieve self-transcendence.

Once Hamer makes this argument, he surrenders any sense of integrity in talking about a "God gene." Having redefined his terms, limiting the specific scope of his explanatory thesis to concern for self-transcendence that can be understood in purely secular terms, Hamer undermines his own argument and marketing strategy.

Since Hamer is a research scientist who hopes to maintain some credibility in the scientific community, he must offer several caveats concerning his work. First, Hamer acknowledges that a genetic explanation can go only so far in explaining the totality of religious experience, or even self-transcendence. "The specific gene I have identified is by no means the entire story behind spirituality," Hamer admits. "It plays only a small, if key, role; many other genes and environmental factors also are involved. Nevertheless, the gene is important because it points out the mechanism by which spirituality is manifested in the brain."

Before considering Hamer's genetic argument, what are we to make of his category of self-transcendence? Hamer uses the term to mean "spiritual feelings that are independent of traditional religiousness." These feelings are not tied to belief in any specific God, nor are they tied to traditional practices of devotion or to any doctrinal structure. Instead, self-transcendence "gets to the heart of spiritual belief: the nature of the universe and our place in it." Individuals who experience self-transcendence "tend to see everything, including themselves, as part of one great totality." In other words, they sound like individuals who have graduated from the latest New Age self-help course in spirituality.

A central mechanism of Hamer's argument is a self-transcendence scale devised by psychiatrist Robert Cloninger of Washington University Medical School in St. Louis. Cloninger's instrument for measuring self-transcendence, known as a "TCI inventory," provides Hamer with a way of establishing a research base in which he could study twins in order to determine whether belief in God is a heritable characteristic.

Continued on page 3: »