Spirituality Hypothesis
Geneticist Dean Hamer has suggested that the VMAT2 gene correlates with spirituality using data from a smoking survey, which included questions intended to measure "self-transcendence". Hamer performed the spirituality study on the side, independently of the National Cancer Institute smoking study. His findings were published in the mass-market book The God Gene: How Faith Is Hard-Wired Into Our Genes. However Hamer's claim that the VMAT2 gene contributes to spirituality is controversial. Hamer's study has not been published in the peer reviewed literature.
Read more about this topic: Vesicular Monoamine Transporter 2
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