SUPERS VERSUS BRIGHTS
Dennett argues that we are not all doomed to supernaturalism, since the world can be divided into those with supernatural beliefs (‘Supers’) and those who reject supernatural explanations of the world (‘Brights’).38 I would argue that human nature rarely fits neatly into separate boxes. Such is the case with religion and secular supernatural beliefs. The world does not neatly divide into Brights and Supers on the basis of belief. There is a whole range of beliefs out there. Some beliefs (in heaven, hell, demons, angels, God, and the Devil) are immediately recognizable as the stuff of religious gospel. Other beliefs, such as those surveyed in the Gallup poll cited in the last chapter (precognition, telepathy, clairvoyance) are supernatural notions that contradict our scientific understanding but are not religious. People who say they are atheists can still have some bizarre supernatural beliefs. Most atheists I have met are generally not anti-supernatural so much as anti-religion. This is a vitally important point that is often overlooked. When I talked in Norwich about humans being wired for a supersense, some thought I only meant religion. Critics pointed out that if we are wired for supernatural beliefs, how can we explain there being so many atheists in countries like Sweden and Finland, where eight out of every ten say that they are not religious? It may be cold up there, but not all Swedes and Finns could have evolved different brains. Or consider a comparison of Ireland and the United Kingdom. Only one out of every twenty is an atheist in Ireland, but skip across the water to the United Kingdom and the number is eight times higher. How could biology explain atheism being prevalent in one country but not in its neighbour?39
The answer is that the brain is wired for many things that depend on environment. Just because human behaviour and thinking vary between those raised in different environments does not mean that there is no biology involved. For example, every human infant is wired for language, but the language they end up speaking depends on where they are raised.40 Infants from anywhere in the world will end up speaking the language to which they are exposed – and with no effort, because their brains are designed to do this.
Or consider an example from vision. Why do all Chinese look alike? Before you start writing to me to complain about my racism, I will add that, of course they don’t all look alike, and in fact we also all look alike to them.41 In an area located just behind your ears is the brain region known as the fusiform gyrus, which is specialized for processing faces.42 Right from the very start, newborns appear to be wired to seek out faces. With experience, they become expert at recognizing their own mother’s face and other members of their group, but they remain less expert at recognizing members of other groups.43 This research on language and face recognition development tells us there is a biological bias for babies becoming increasingly tuned in to their environment. To borrow an analogy from computing, the infant brain is formatted for certain inputs, and faces and language are just two of them.
TWEEDLEDUM AND TWEEDLEDEE
Could it be that a supersense also results from a biological bias? Maybe culture spreads belief by feeding our bias with ideas, but that does not mean that we inevitably grow up believing. Unlike language and face expertise, which are present in almost every human, belief has much more variation. It depends on the individual as well. For example, I heard a BBC Radio 4 interview with Peter Hitchens and his brother Christopher, who recently published his provocatively entitled criticism of religion, God Is Not Great.44 Both men are intelligent, well-educated journalists. They were raised in the same family, one that taught them to be independent. However, Christopher is an atheist and Peter is a Christian. At the end of a rather surprisingly barbed argument – typical of squabbling brothers, each accused the other of changing the subject – the interviewer interjected and asked how two brothers raised in the same household could be so passionately different in their beliefs. There was a pregnant pause. This simple question had them both lost for words. Eventually, Christopher answered. ‘This doesn’t help to sell my book!’
The answer to the interviewer’s question may be found in a natural experiment that allows investigators to look at the role of biology and environment. When a human egg splits into two after fertilization, the result is identical twins who mostly share the same genes. If these identical twin children are fostered out to different homes, we can estimate the influence of environment and the contribution of genes to their development. It’s not a perfect experiment, since most environments are very similar, but it does reveal something fascinating about the power of genes. The research findings are vast, but to sum up the conclusions drawn from identical twin studies, on many psychological measures a comparison of results indicates that it’s often like testing the same person twice. Aspects of our personality that we think we have cultivated ourselves are often biologically predictable. This also appears to be true for each twin’s inclination toward religion.
Identical twins raised in separate environments share more religious beliefs and behaviour compared to non-identical twins who also live apart. A study by a Minnesota team led by Thomas Bouchard found that the environment is less predictive of religiosity than genetic similarity.45 Another study from the same group found that once twins leave home, only the identical twins continue to share the same religious beliefs.46 The geneticist Dean Hamer has even identified a gene, vesicular monoamine transporter 2, or VMAT2, that is linked to the personality traits of spirituality.47 He found that in a survey of over two hundred people including twins, those who share religiosity also share VMAT2. This gene controls a number of the brain chemicals responsible for controlling moods. Neuroscientists such as Andrew Newberg have even made progress towards identifying the relevant neural circuitry that is activated during religious experiences, again suggesting a brain-based account for the spiritual.48 So maybe our brains and our own unique mind design determine whether we believe or not. Even if Peter and Christopher Hitchens have shared very similar environments and experiences, they will be pleased to know that they have different brains, which probably explains why their beliefs are so different.
It’s early days yet, and it is not clear that reducing the search for belief to the gene level is going to make much sense of a rich and complex human behaviour. However, this research does suggest that the explanation of how belief operates should look at the role of biology working within environments. If the findings from genetic studies hold up, this means that there is something in our genes that contributes to building a brain that is predisposed to belief. If that turns out to be the case, those on both sides of the debate about the true origins of belief are going to be really annoyed, because the suggestion would be that maybe we don’t have a choice about whether we believe. In other words, there is no free will in making the decision to believe or not.