Letters

Is God in Our Genes?

"Natural selection and a spiritual gene can no more explain a belief in God and religion than they can say why we find a sunset beautiful."

DARIN REED

Gallup, N.M.

Your article on molecular biologist Dean Hamer's discovery of a gene for spirituality, the so-called God gene, put too much emphasis on the religious aspect of spirituality [Oct. 25]. While such a gene may very well cause those who carry it to experience self-transcendence and to have a feeling of connectedness to a larger universe, that does not always translate into religious beliefs. I tend to get caught up in an experience, have fleeting revelations and insights and feel connected to the world outside me, all of which, according to your article, are indications of spirituality. Having those traits should make me a nun. But I am an atheist. A spiritual gene alone does not cause people to spread their arms, look up at the sky and declare, "Hallelujah! There is a God!"

PREEYA PHADNIS

Milwaukee, Wis.

When I was a teenager, TIME published a cover asking "Is God Dead?" [April 6, 1966]. I believed this was the case and became a molecular geneticist. I thought I had found the Holy Grail in DNA. Maybe Hamer has found the gene in humans that is responsible for the continual creation of God in man's image, but the truth is a different matter altogether. It sets people free.

JONI MENARD

Edmond, Okla.

Your story was another pathetic attempt to explain away the existence of God, our Creator. The complexity of DNA and the genetic code points toward an intelligent designer, not the haphazard coincidences of evolutionary theory. Evolution does not hold up under the scrutiny of critical thinking. It is a fraud being passed along as scientific fact!

WILLIAM E. BELL

Santa Fe, Tenn.

Man has always turned to a God to explain the unexplainable. Because of religion's ubiquity, it does seem as if there is a God gene in many human beings. Organized religion, however, is now similar to a political bureaucracy that pulls out all the stops to perpetuate itself. The clergy has become a ruling class that arbitrarily makes decrees significantly affecting people's lives. Church leaders rule with fear as well as love. Small children are indoctrinated mercilessly. So I wonder whether, in the fundamentalist denominations, religious belief is caused by the God gene or just good old-fashioned coercion.

CAROL KRAINES

Deerfield, Ill.

I wonder when they will discover a gene for believing in Santa Claus.

ARNOLD A. LAZARUS

New Brunswick, N.J.

If God is a spirit and we are made in his image, why wouldn't our genes contain God's spirit? Faith in things that are not seen and the idea of free will are both compatible with the concept of a gene that gives us spirituality. Healers and miracle workers are able to call upon this force, sometimes without even understanding how it works.

ROBERT C. LILLIE

Colorado Springs, Colo.

Why should we care about the existence of God, with all the evidence that our interest is not reciprocated?

MITCHELL WINTHROP

Arlington Heights, Ill.

Would scientists ever admit they are hardwired to look for a God gene? My guess is no. Scientists would have us believe that everything we do has a genetic cause, except, of course, looking for genetic causes.

KYLE OWENS

Edmond, Okla.

Conscription Renewal

"Does the U.S. need the draft?" [OCT. 18] missed one point about why politicians and the military would resist the reinstatement of any draft. The all volunteer military works to the government's advantage. To bring back the draft would give ordinary citizens more of a say-so in Pentagon affairs. The brass don't want this. As things now stand, the conduct of the military isn't considered to be the business of the average citizen. It is assumed civilians don't sufficiently understand the true meaning of service in the armed forces. That may be the case, but it is not necessarily a good thing.

PETE SANTOS

Gulf Breeze, Fla.

Why view the need for a draft as a solution only to immediate problems? What about the more important question of whether the U.S. should require government service of all our youth? Since the end of the draft in 1973, the word duty has been almost totally erased from the American lexicon. That is a real issue. Bringing back the draft might mean we would also face the inequities rampant during the Vietnam conflict, such as deferments of the privileged and politically connected. That type of draft system is a bad idea. We need a whole new mandatory national-service program.

TOM O'CONNOR

St. Simons Island, Ga.

Unfortunately, the majority of Americans serving in today's military don't have a well-known or wealthy relative who can save them from military service. Most of our servicemen and -women enlisted to pay for their education or to help their families financially. Without a draft, the U.S. has become a country where the rich enjoy the rewards and security that money brings while the poor do the dirty work and die.

ANA M. HOTALING

Ann Arbor, Mich.

Fear Itself

In his Essay "The Case for Fearmongering" [Oct. 18], Charles Krauthammer wrote, "When you live in an age of terrorism with increasingly available weapons of mass destruction, it is the absence of fear that is utterly irrational." But fear has never helped a situation, nor has it ever been the grounds for good judgment. President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." It would be a catastrophic mistake for us to let fear guide our decisions. Fear is the ultimate enemy.

MICHAEL KELLEY

Port Charlotte, Fla.

Fear is precisely what we do not need. The Bush Administration exploited fear to justify its irrational attack on Iraq when in fact al-Qaeda was hiding elsewhere. Americans are intelligent enough to know we are facing a threat. A successful response must not be distorted by base emotions of insecurity, anger or revenge. We have the wisdom and the strength to overcome our enemies. We cannot afford fear.

ROLAND S. FREDERICKS

Marietta, Ohio

I reject Krauthammer's claim that "never in American history has fear been a more appropriate feeling." The difference between the frightful times of the past, such as the Civil War, the Great Depression and the cold war years, and today's situation is that whenever it seemed as though fear should have overcome the American psyche, our resolve and courage rose up to beat it back. Fear is a victory for terrorists and the enemies of America. Fear denigrates us.

ADAM HOBART

Royal Oak, Mich.

Should Americans be aware of potential terrorist activity? Of course. But we must understand that it is the policies of our government, not the mindless jealousy of fanatics, that make us the object of attacks. Sure, let's beef up domestic security, but let's also have some serious and honest dialogue about the reasons we need it. Diatribes about irrational enemies feed unthinking fear and obscure any hope of real solutions.

PATRICIA DAVIS

Culver City, Calif.