Is There Really A "God Gene?"

In 2004, the news outlets were abuzz with stories about VMAT2, the newly discovered "God gene." A group of genes that code proteins that influence the production of neurotransmitters in our brains, VMAT2 was also thought, at least by non-scientist news reporters, to explain whether or not people believe in God.

What Is the "God Gene?"

Vesicular monoamine transporter 2, or VMAT2, is not actually a gene. It is a protein made by the brain that is coded by a gene known as SLC18A2. This transporter protein carries neurotransmitters, brain chemicals such as serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and histamine, from the fluids that surround neurons into the neurons themselves. 

Without this transporter protein, brain cells cannot respond to the neurotransmitters around them. Laboratory studies with animals even suggest that not having the protein, or not having the gene that carries the genetic code for the protein, results in death just a few days after birth.

A Natural Amphetamine

The VMAT2 protein attaches to the same sites in the brain as two well-known illicit drugs, dextroamphetamine and dextromethamphetamine. The protein fights depression, dullness, sleepiness, and inactivity in many of the same way as methamphetamines. And people who have more copies of the gene that codes the making of the protein may be more inclined to get a natural high from their belief in God.

The Connection Between the God Gene and Belief in God

The idea that the SLC18A2 gene determined whether or not someone easily believes in God originated in a survey of smokers conducted for the (American) National Cancer Society. Researchers looking at the question of why some smokers find the use of tobacco pleasurable included some questions designed to measure "self-transcendence" in their survey. 

As defined by research psychiatrist and Washington University professor Robert Cloninger, self-transcendence is a group of characteristics related to feelings of connectedness with the greater world and willingness to believe in things that cannot be easily proved. A geneticist named Dean Hamer conducted the survey for the National Cancer Society without initially being particularly interested in self-transcendence. But as Hamer and his colleagues looked at survey data from dozens of pairs of brothers and sisters and in some cases, their DNA tests, it became obvious that self-transcendence, the ability to believe in the great beyond, was hereditary.

Hamer and colleagues didn't find that the genes that code VMAT2 made a huge difference in personality, but they found they make a consistent difference in personality, that people who have more copies of the gene were more likely to possess transcendent beliefs, such as a belief in God.

Belief In God Or A Greater Ability To Party Hardy?

Hamer's findings led to his book The God Gene, and a series of headline stories repeated all over the world. A closer look at the data, however, found that the God gene wasn't all the initial news reports made it out to be.

Hamer himself later admitted that the God gene, while possessing a valid, statistically significant effect, could only account for 1% of the variation in self-transcendence scores reported in personality tests. In other words, Hamer had discovered "a God gene" rather than "the God gene," there presumably are many other genes that also explain differences in inclination to believe in the supernatural.

But is that the only possibility?

Smells and Bells, Rants and Chants

The VMAT2 protein is only significant when there are neurotransmitters for it to transport. Without the dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, and histamine it carries, the presence of absence of the VMAT2 protein is of little significance. This led critical thinkers to arrive at another explanation of how the so-called God gene works.

Especially in ancient times, religious activities were especially festive. The worship of gods and goddesses was typically accompanied by eating, drinking, and dancing, and quite often drugs and sex. The festival activities surrounding the worship of gods and goddesses leads to the production of the neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. People who had more copies of the God gene would get a bigger boost of these neurotransmitters in their brains and a stronger "high" from the religious festival.

In this context, the gene that codes VMAT2 is not so much a God gene as a party gene, the party coincidentally centered around the worship of the gods--or in the modern era, God. In our modern era, one way of looking at this is in terms of smells and bells, rants and chants. The more active the ceremony, the more it appeals to people who have the genes for making VMAT2.

Does the God Gene Prove or Disprove the Existence of God?

The reason that so many people get high on religion may have to do with its role in society. Especially in the pagan period when religious festivals involved sex, being more "into" the religion of the era may have increased the probability of passing on the "God gene" to one's offspring. 

In Christianity, it's well-known that some of the persons who are sworn to celibacy (or monogamy) tend to fail their vows in rather spectacular fashion. It may simply be that the genetic inclination to intense worship may also carry an inclination to intense satisfaction from sex, food, dancing, alcohol, and drugs. In fact, religious rules against "sins" may make these activities even more tempting, since novelty, doing something different, also generates more of the chemicals that cause a brain-based high. The less a religion talks about sex, drugs, and rock and roll, the more they may appeal to its members.

None of this, of course, has any bearing on the question of whether there is actually a God. That is still a matter of faith. However, better understanding of our genetics may lead to better understanding of why some people are particularly fervent followers of God, and why they so often fail.