Is Religion Genetic?

Are some people genetically predisponsed to religion? It is very difficult for some people to be open to different ideas. Are they to blame or is genes responsible?

Is there a grand conspiracy to keep people under control through religion, or is it simply genetic? Or perhaps more likely the people in control know of this and take advantage of this?

Genes may help determine how religious a person is, suggests a new study of US twins. And the effects of a religious upbringing may fade with time.

Until about 25 years ago, scientists assumed that religious behaviour was simply the product of a person's socialisation - or "nurture". But more recent studies, including those on adult twins who were raised apart, suggest genes contribute about 40% of the variability in a person's religiousness.

NewScientist

The newest University study on twins finds that degree of religious faith appears to be tied to genetics. Further, it concludes that the genetic influence grows in adulthood. Behavioral psychology Ph.D. student Laura Koenig (M.A. '04) reviewed lengthy surveys from the early 1990s in the center's database. Though the surveys dealt with parenting behavior of twins, Koenig discovered that some included nine questions that dealt directly with religious faith, including about church attendance, prayer, religious reading, and more open-ended questions. Respondents who were asked the religiousness questions (more than 250 sets of male twins born from 1961 to 1964) were also asked to answer the same questions for when they were children.

At her computer in a cramped, windowless lab she shares with other Ph.D. students in Elliot Hall, Koenig sifted through the responses and saw patterns begin to emerge: Upbringing played a large part in determining respondents' degree of faith early in life. But as respondents became adults, genetics became a dominant factor, either strengthening or reducing the role of religion in their lives.

UMNews

Genetic Influences on Religiousness

Religion is a product of evolution, software suggests
NewScientist
WWRNABC News

I think it's definitely genetics, it's almost as if we've been programmed in such a way. It's one of the most fundamental elements that sets humans apart from animals, it's the conscience of a higher being/power, and our inherent need to find "it" and/or worship "it".

A NEED ALL OF US SHARE