Religious Gene

[CSwriter1]

Science is now telling us there is a gene that makes humans more prone to being religious. I think we can assume this would also mean, more prone to having spiritual experiences regardless of religion. I don't know if the gene exist, or if everyone who it, or exactly how it would effect us. I just think it is worth exploring.

Are we all capable of having the same consciousness?
Can we all have the same spiritual experiences, or only those with the gene for this?
What are the social implication of discovering some religiously/spiritual superior because of genetics?
How about international relations? Are there populations lacking this gene?

[vicente]

Are we all capable of having the same consciousness?

Yes, I would say we are, although 98% are unlikely to ever take advantage of it,...ie., the pro-gression study 'Mass Dreams of the Future'.

Can we all have the same spiritual experiences, or only those with the gene for this?


I would say you confused Spiritual Experience with Religious Experience. Religious experience arises from belief and its predispositions, whereas to me, a spiritual experience does not have religion or its gods stepping between me and my experience.

In a Ghost Group I was associated with, we would test for Parietal Lobe activity among those involved in particular Ghost Hunts.
http://website.lineone.net/~kwelos/parietal.htm
http://wired-vig.wired.com/wired/archive/7.../persinger.html (http://wired-vig.wired.com/wired/archive/7.11/persinger.html)
http://www.melvinmorse.com/e-tlp.htm
http://bhidalgo.tripod.com/litreview.htm

:)

[Ronagon]

I got your "religious gene"...

The "religious gene" is whatever part of your brain controls the adrenaline rush, because all religion is, is a kinky thrill.

It's a kinky thrill of bowing and trembling before some religious leader or god. It's also the kinky thrill of inflicting the religion's rules upon other kink-addicts within and outside the religion.

Religion is just sadomasochistic kink, that doesn't want to face up to what it really is... and it tries to conceal all this beneath ornamentation and pseudo-pretty rituals.

I hope this offends you. I truly do. Because you and your "religiosity" have definitely gotten YOUR kicks off of trying to hold ME hostage, all my life.

[CSwriter1]

http://neuro-www.mgh.harvard.edu/forum/Epi...euro-EpilepticO (http://neuro-www.mgh.harvard.edu/forum/EpilepsyF/11.17.971.12AMNeuro-EpilepticO)

This is a rather lenghty explanation of brain function and religious experience. This seems far from the question of the gene though, because everyone's brains would function pretty much the same, and the artical about the gene, questioned if people with this gene were more apt to reproduce, because of mating selection.

[Priyamanavalae]

Originally posted by "CSwriter1"
Are we all capable of having the same consciousness?
Can we all have the same spiritual experiences, or only those with the gene for this?
What are the social implication of discovering some religiously/spiritual superior because of genetics?
How about international relations? Are there populations lacking this gene?

I think that spiritual experiences come with religion, so if you're extremely strong in one religion you will undergo many more experiences then someone who has little or no faith in a religion, I really don't think a gene can control the spiritual body. Alot of people tend to believe the god they believe is superior to others and family has to do alot with it. If all your life you were taught that this God was better and your entire family believed it, you would too because you've been taught to. In some isolated villages where only one religion is seen as the norm, you tend to believe in that religion.