ABSTRACT
Genetics and its close cousin molecular biology have transformed the way we think about both our present reality and our future lives. By definition, religion and spirituality address and struggle with profound ideas and events that can transform our lives; thus, we find genetics and religion intersecting at many points:
DNA is viewed as powerful and even sacred by much of society; genes provide a model for both reality and identity, touching the essence of what it means to be human, and what it is that “natural” means—both deeply religious and spiritual questions.
It is not surprising then that isolating, identifying, or altering genes is often considered “playing God,” crossing a line that violates nature.
From the perspective of evolution, religion or at least many of its essential components might be literally in our genes—emerging from our evolutionary history as by-products of natural selection.
At the individual level, experience and genes are integral and interactive threads of the cloth that is us; religious/spiritual experiences could affect our genes and vice versa.
Here, we briefly discuss the first three points (all of which are expanded in detail in this or other sections of the encyclopedia) but explore the fourth point in more detail.