9 - Genes, Religiosity and Political Commitment

Summary

Jumping from the genetics of body size to the genetics of religion and politics might seem a bit of a leap – and in any event it can surely not be the case that genes have anything to do with such complex human behaviours. Or can they? As already emphasised in Chapter 4, behavioural geneticists continue to include within the scope of their enquiry pretty much any trait that differs among people. And certainly behaviours reflecting religious and political commitments,or the lack of them, vary among people. It may be remembered from Chapter 1 that the rather dramatic claim was made in a Nature article that ‘An increasing number of studies suggest that biology can exert a significant influence on political beliefs and behaviours’ (Buchen, 2012).