Do Christians believe in God…because their
genes tell them to?
Welcome to Critical Thinking Scan, where we
look at how you can think about any faith-challenging
message and arrive at a biblical, logical
conclusion yourself.
I’m Patricia Engler and today, let’s look at how to 
apply the Seven Checks of Critical Thinking
to the idea that people believe in
God because they’re genetically predisposed to.
Part of this claim comes from different studies
of twins, which found that patterns of spiritual
beliefs and practices were more similar among
identical twins than fraternal twins, even
when the twins were raised apart.
Now, the researchers themselves don’t normally
claim that belief in God IS genetic; just
that part of human spirituality seems to be
genetically influenced.
But the idea that “religion” is rooted
in genetics was popularized by books like
The God Gene, which linked human spirituality to
a gene called VMAT2 which regulates a neurotransmitter
—a chemical in the brain—called monoamine.
And the book speculates that spirituality
gave humans an evolutionary advantage.
So, although researchers don’t tend to say
this, you might hear in the popular media
or in classrooms, people implying that belief
in God is just a fluke of genetics.
But is that true?
Well, let’s think about it.
Check #1 of critical thinking is check Scripture.
Genesis explains that God created us for relationship
with Him, so even if He did hardwire us with
some genetic predisposition towards spirituality,
that wouldn’t necessarily be surprising.
However, the implication that God isn’t
real, and we only believe in Him because our
genes evolved to, DOES contradict clear biblical
doctrines, which is Check #2, check the challenge.
Check 3 is check the source, and clearly,
anyone who says we only believe in God because
our genes evolved to, is not starting from
the worldview of God’s word.
So that’s going to affect their assumptions.
And if you look at the research behind the
God Gene book, you’ll find it didn’t actually
link VMAT2 to belief in God so much as to
a personality trait called “self-transcendence.”
That involves things like searching for meaning
outside oneself or “feeling connected to
the larger universe,” which is hardly the
same thing as believing in the Biblical Creator.
That’s why even popular evolutionist Carl
Zimmer said that The God Gene would be more
accurately titled, “A Gene That Accounts
for Less Than One Percent of the Variance
Found in Scores on Psychological Questionnaires
Designed to Measure a Factor Called Self-Transcendence,
Which Can Signify Everything from Belonging
to the Green Party to Believing in (extrasensory
projection), According to One Unpublished,
Unreplicated Study.”
Defining terms like “self-transcendance”
vs. “religion” vs. belief in God falls
under critical thinking check number 4, check
the definitions.
Moving onto check 5, check for propaganda,
we can catch the illogical persuasion in this
argument by asking, ‘Is this message true
or false because…”
In this case, we’d ask, “Is the message
true or false because people might have a
genetic predisposition to think so?”
And when you think about it, you realize, no.
For instance, some person might have a genetic
predisposition to enjoy hurting others, but
that’s irrelevant to whether hurting others
is morally right.
In the same way, how much monoamine any one
person’s DNA codes for is irrelevant to
the question of whether or not God exists.
Besides, even if genes DID encode for belief
in God, that would logically mean they also
encode for disbelief in God, but I doubt any
atheist who thinks this would say their atheism
is false because they’re genetically inclined towards it.
Now let’s go to Check 6, check the interpretations.
What’s the observational science here?
It’s that genes linked to neurotransmitters
may correlate to how “self-transcendent”
people are, and that identical twins are more
likely to give similar answers to questions
like “I believe going to religious services is important.”
Those are the facts.
The interpretation is that belief in God is
therefore an evolutionary fluke of genetics,
and that’s clearly a stretch based on evolutionary
assumptions.
Besides, assuming that God doesn’t exist
and evolution genetically wired us to think
He does—to argue that God therefore doesn’t
exist—would be circular,
failing the 7th check of critical thinking, 
check the logic.
So, there’s an example of how you could
respond to the claim, “belief in God is genetic.”
For more on how to think critically about
any message that challenges the Bible’s
teaching, you can access my other CT Scan
videos packed with tactics, tips and tools
that helped me as a Christian student at secular
university.
Thank you for watching!
Hey, it’s Patricia, just wanting to let
you know that if you like these videos, are
on board to share the message of biblical
authority and want to give, you can help Answers
in Genesis CA produce more content like this
and equip more people to defend their faith
by making a one-time donation or becoming
a monthly supporter by clicking the link below.
Thanks so much!
