There are studies underway to isolate a gene "responsible for religious belief and faith." And, like the debate over Intelligent Design, I see the same logical fallacy:
The presence of X necessarily precludes the existence of Y.
Note: if I could remember my college logic course I'd recall the name the fallacy. But I can't recall much from 25 years ago.
The existence of a genetic component of religious faith does not, it seems to me, preclude the existence of God.
Two thousand years ago Paul established the Christian doctrine of "election" -- that is, God chooses those who will believe. It's a controversial doctrine -- very difficult to grasp -- and arguing the merits of it is not the point of this post. Let's imagine for the moment that it is correct ... that God has in fact chosen those who will have faith.
Would enabling that mechanism through a genetic component be contradictory to the doctrine itself? I think not.
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