Introduction
The concept of a "God-gene" is one that is filled with much controversy. When geneticist Dean Hamer first postulated the possibility for a gene that could be the chemical reason for spiritual "highs", the hypothesis was greeted with both enthusiasm and skepticism. The claim of Dr. Hamer was that the gene that encodes for the transport protein VMAT-2 has a version where the frequency of c-polymorphisms on positions 52, 54, and 71 of VMAT-2 is higher. Individuals with this version of VMAT-2 could be said to have the "God gene", as they were more spiritually inclined than other subjects in Hamer's experiment. To arrive at this conclusion, Hamer conducted an experiment where subject VMAT-2 variances were compared to a spirituality test (called the TCI) the subjects took. VMAT-2 is a key protein in dopamine regulation which facilitates the containment of dopamine in a secretory vesicle to be excreted into the neural synapse of a nerve cell to create a biochemical response. He claims that having the specific version of this gene is the reason why some people are able to reach spiritual "highs", or enlightenment easier than other people, simply due to a slightly different mechanism for regulating dopamine in the body. Assuming that these claims are true, a group of Christian students
from Bethel University wanted to know whether or not
the gene for spiritual enlightenment would appear more frequently in their
Molecular/Cellular Biology class verses the national average. We hypothesize that the "God gene" would be more prevalent in Bethel students compared to the average population. Our null hypothesis is that there would be no significant change in the percentage of students with the "God gene" in Bethel verses the national average. We believe that Bethel students will have a higher percentage of the "God gene" due to their already previously inclination for spiritual enlightenment by choosing a Christian university. To test our hypothesis, we conducted a modified version of Hamer's experiment which excluded the spirituality test.