At FuturePundit, see a summary of a recent twins study showing a modest genetic influence on both religiosity and altruism, as well as a potential link between the two.
Blogger Randall Parker also conjectures that both religiosity and altruism are being selected for in industrialized societies. Religious people tend to have more children, while "selfish people are probably less willing to have kids due to all the work entailed." If these trends continue, we can expect to see increasing proportions of religious, altruistic people in future generations.
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We have only begun to figure out the nature versus nurture thing. I have to fight the urge to use food as a drug. My husband does not fight that same urge. Possibly I share with some relations (who abuse alcohol) some genetic predisposition.
I think that some in my family (of scandinavian descent) show distinct characteristics of fierceness & bravery---possibly a partly genetic thing...from the ancient Vikings??? The gene research is still fairly NEW. Too early to draw hard & fast conclusions till lots of research i done.
Whether or not religious belief is genetically linked---it doesn't matter to me. We have not even really addressed the possibility that---maybe??? our choices---especially repeated choices might influence our genetics. We are about 3 years old when it comes to understanding how that INCRAEDIBLY complex thing (deoxyribonucleic acid) affects us.
Posted by: V Knutsen | April 11, 2007 at 01:42 PM